1    7    C 


LIBRARY 


THE 


HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER; 


OR, 


cmo  QVnerbotes  of  tlje  Noble 


EPESTRIAN    NATIONS 


BY    ROLLO    SPRINGFIELD. 


NEW  YORK : 
WILEY    &    PUTNAM,    161    BROADWAY. 

1847. 


K   C&ita 

113  Pulton  Street 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Page 

DOMESTICATION  OK  THE  HORSE — HORSE  FURNITURE — VA- 
RIOUS BREHDS — BLOOD  HORSES — PONIES  1 


CHAPTER  II. 

PHYSIOGNOMY  OF  THE   HORSE — SAGACITY — FIDELITY — SO- 
CIABILITY, &c. — ANECDOTES — INSANITY        .         .        .     22 

CHAPTER   III. 
VICES,  AND  DISAGREEABLE  OR  DANGEROUS  HABITS  .         .     47 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SPEED  AND   ENDURANCE — CARNIVOROUS  HORSES — HORSE- 
FLESH   AS    FOOD HORSEBAITING.  .  .  .  .62 

CHAPTER  V. 
PRIMITIVE  STATE  OF  WILD  HORSES — THE  STEPPES  .         .     81 

CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  CENTAUR — THE   MONGOLS    AND  CALMUCKS — A  RUS- 
SIAN TABOON  94 


IV  CONTENTS 

Part 
CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  COSSACKS — THE  CIRCASSIANS — THE  MAMELUKES          124 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
BELA — A  STORY  OF  THE  CAUCASUS    .         .        >  142 

CHAPTER  IX. 
RUNJEET    SINGH'S   FAMOUS  HORSE  LYLEE — ANECDOTES — 

PERSIAN  HORSES    .         .....  169 

CHAPTER  X. 
ARABIAN  HORSES         ...  .  183 

CHAPTER  XI. 
FERAL  HORSES  OF  AMERICA — INDIANS  AND  GAUCHOS        .  192 


THE   HORSE   AND   HIS   RIDER. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Domestication  of  the  Horse. — Horse  Furniture. — Various  Breeds. 
— Blood  Horses. — Ponies. 

THE  reduction  of  the  horse  to  the  domestic  state,  as 
Buffon  justly  observes,  is  the  greatest  acquisition  from 
the  animal  world  ever  made  by  the  art  and  industry  of 
man.  Every  one  knows  and  admires  the  graceful 
symmetry,  the  speed,  vigor,  docility,  and  endurance 
of  that  noble  creature  ;  but  few,  perhaps,  have  re- 
flected on  the  important  part  he  has  played  in  the 
history  of  our  race  ;  few  are  aware  how  much  we 
owe  it  to  him,  that  we  at  this  day  are  not  as  rude 
and  wretched  as  our  barbarian  forefathers,  but  live 
surrounded  by  those  countless  blessings  which  are 
the  birthright  of  every  child  born  in  a  civilized  land. 
We  fear  that  there  has  been  little  gratitude  or  hu- 
manity evinced  in  our  general  treatment  of  the  horse  ; 
2 


2  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

and  now  that  we  rush. along  like  the  wind  on  the 
wings  of  steam,  we  are  perhaps  in  danger  of  still  more 
undervaluing  his  worth.  But  had  we  never  known 
his  aid,  how  different  far  would  have  been  the  for- 
tunes of  mankind  !  how  hardly  would  it  have  fulfilled 
its  destiny,  to  "  multiply  and  replenish  the  earth,  and 
subdue  it,  and  have  dominion  over  the  fish  of  the  sea, 
and  the  fowl  of  the  air,  and  over  every  living  thing 
that  moveth  upon  the  earth !"  Unaided  by  the  strength 
and  swiftness  of  this  generous  servant,  men  would  but 
partially  and  slowly  have  emerged  from  barbarism  ; 
at  the  most  they  would  have  congregated  into  tribes 
and  petty  states,  covering  only  so  much  ground  as 
might  be  traversed  in  a  day's  march  or  two  on  foot ; 
and  these  would  have  been  perpetually  engaged  in  war 
and  rapine  :  but  peace,  order,  plenty,  knowledge,  and 
national  power,  could  never  have  been  established  or 
have  made  progress,  so  long  as  men,  divided  by  wide 
tracts  of  country,  had  no  means  of  rapidly  communi- 
cating with  each  other,  and  of  uniting  together  for 
their  mutual  welfare. 

Neither  sacred  nor  profane  history  informs  us  in 
what  country  the  horse  was  first  domesticated,  or 
whether  he  was  first  used  for  draught  or  riding.  It  is 
probable  that  the  animal  was  employed  for  both  pur- 
poses in  very  early  times,  and  in  various  parts  of  the 
world;  but  though  many  of  the  ancients  possessed 
great  mastery  over  their  horses,  and  performed  with 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  3 

them  admirable  feats  of  skill  and  agility,  it  is  never- 
theless surprising  by  what  slow  steps  the  arts  and 
inventions,  connected  with  horsemanship,  have  reach- 
ed their  present  degree  of  perfection.  The  polished 
Greeks,  as  well  as  the  ruder  nations  of  northern 
Africa,  for  a  long  while  rode  without  either  saddle  or 
bridle,  guiding  their  horses  with  the  voice  or  the  hand, 
or  with  a  light  switch.  They  touched  the  animal  on 
the  right  or  left  of  the  face  to  make  him  turn  in  the 
opposite  direction ;  they  stopped  him  by  touching  his 
muzzle,  and  urged  him  forward  with  the  heel.  The 
horses  must  have  been  excellently  trained,  to  be  gov- 
erned by  such  slight  means,  in  the  violence  of  their 
course,  or  in  the  tumult  of  battle ;  but  the  attention, 
docility,  and  memory  of  this  animal  are  such,  that  it 
is  hard  to  say  to  what  a  degree  of  obedience  he  may 
not  be  brought. 

Bridles  and  bits  were  at  length  introduced ;  but 
many  centuries  elapsed  before  anything  that  can  pro- 
perly be  called  a  saddle  was  used.  Instead  of  these, 
cloths,  single  or  padded,  and  skins  of  wild  beasts, 
often  richly  adorned,  were  placed  beneath  the  rider, 
but  always  without  stirrups.  It  is  a  very  extraordinary 
fact  that  even  the  Romans,  in  the  times  when  luxury 
was  carried  to  the  utmost  excess  amongst  them,  never 
devised  so  simple  an  expedient  for  assisting  the  horse- 
man to  mount,  lessening  his  fatigue,  and  securing  his 
seat,  although  painful  diseases  were  not  unfrequently 


4  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

caused  by  the  habit  of  riding  with  the  feet  unsupport- 
ed. Many  ancient  sculptures  prove  that  the  horsemen 
of  almost  every  country  used  to  mount  on  the  right 
side  of  the  animal,  in  order  the  better  to  grasp  the 
mane  which  hangs  on  that  side.  The  practice  is  in- 
variably reversed  in  modern  days,  and  none  but  a  Billy 
Button  would  think  of  mounting  on  the  off  side,  not- 
withstanding the  classical  authority  that  may  be  alleged 
for  so  doing. 

The  ancient  heroes  generally  leaped  on  their  horses' 
backs  ;  or  their  spear,  if  they  carried  one,  had  a  loop, 
or  projection,  about  two  feet  from  the  bottom,  which 
served  them  as  a  step.  The  horse  was  sometimes 
trained  to  lower  his  neck  and  back,  or  to  kneel  down 
for  his  rider ;  and  both  in  Greece  and  Rome  the  local 
magistracy  were  bound  to  see  that  blocks  for  mounting 
from  (what  the  Scotch  call  loupin-on-stanes)  were 
placed  along  the  roads  at  convenient  distances.  The 
great,  however,  thought  it  more  dignified  to  use  living 
blocks,  and  to  climb  into  their  seats,  by  setting  their 
feet  on  the  bent  backs  of  their  slaves  ;  and  many  who 
could  not  command  such  costly  help,  used  to  carry  a 
light  ladder  about  with  them — a  curious  piece  of  horse 
furniture ! 

What  a  signal  instance  was  given  of  the  deep 
humiliation  into  which  Imperial  Rome  had  fallen, 
when  a  haughty  Persian  monarch  mounted  his  horse 
from  the  back  of  the  Emperor  Valerian  !  The  use  of 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  5 

stirrups  left  pride  and  insolence  without  a  pretext  for 
thus  degrading  God's  image.  Instead  of  offering  his 
back  to  be  trampled  on,  the  servant  now  only  held 
the  stirrup  for  his  lord.  In  the  middle  ages,  the 
great  were  fond  of  exacting  this  token  of  servility 
from  their  humbled  rivals :  Emperors  of  Germany 
have  held  the  stirrup  for  the  Pope  ;  and  Henry  II.  of 
England,  when  his  rancor  against  Thomas  a  Becket 
was  hottest,  thought  to  cajole  the  great  prelate  by  a 
similar  show  of  feigned  respect. 

The  first  distinct  notice  we  have  of  the  use  of  the 
saddle  occurs  in  an  edict  of  the  Emperor  Theodosius 
(A.D.  385) ;  from  which  we  also  learn  that  it  was 
usual  for  those  who  hired  post-horses  to  provide  their 
own  saddles.  The  edict  directs  that  no  traveller  shall 
use  a  saddle  weighing  more  than  sixty  pounds  !  Such 
cumbrous  contrivances  must  have  been  more  like  the 
howdahs  placed  on  the  backs  of  elephants,  than  the 
light  and  elegant  saddle  of  modern  times.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  soldier  of  those  days,  it  does  not 
appear  that  the  military  punishment  of  "  carrying  the 
saddle"  was  devised  until  a  later  period.  It  was 
commonly  inflicted  on  horse-soldiers,  and  even  on 
knights  in  the  middle  ages,  for  breach  of  discipline. 
A  saddle,  bridle,  and  other  appurtenances,  were  laid 
on  the  offender's  shoulder,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
march  about  for  a  certain  length  of  time,  without 
stopping,  exposed  to  the  scoffs  and  jeers  of  all  who 


6  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

saw  him  thus  oddly  accoutred.  Well  for  him  that 
his  burden  did  not  amount  to  the  liberal  weight 
allowed  by  the  Roman  emperor ! 

Side-saddles  for  ladies  were  an  invention  of  com- 
paratively recent  date.  The  first  seen  in  England 
was  made  for  Anne  of  Bohemia,  Richard  the  Second's 
queen.  It  was,  probably,  more  like  a  pillion  than 
the  side-saddle  of  our  day ;  and  if  any  of  our  young 
readers  do  not  know  what  is  meant  by  the  word 
"  pillion,"  their  grandmammas  may,  perhaps,  be  able 
to  describe  the  thing  to  them  from  recollection,  for  it 
was  in  high  fashion  not  a  great  many  years  ago.  It 
was  a  sort  of  very  low-backed  arm-chair,  which  was 
fastened  on  the  horse's  croup,  behind  the  saddle,  on 
which  a  man  rode  who  had  all  the  care  of  managing 
the  horse,  while  the  lady  sat  at  her  ease,  supporting 
herself  by  grasping  a  belt  which  he  wore,  or  by 
passing  her  arm  round  his  body — if  the  gentleman 
was  not  too  ticklish. 

Horse-shoeing  was  not  practised  for  many  centu- 
ries after  the  horse  himself  was  in  very  general  use  ; 
nor  were  hoof-protectors  essentially  necessary  until 
paved  tracts  and  hard  roads  became  more  frequent 
than  they  were  in  old  times.  The  first  foot  defence 
of  the  horse  seems  to  have  been  copied  from  that  of 
his  master.  It  was  a  sort  of  sandal,  commonly  made 
of  matting,  rope,  or  leather.  The  Emperor  Nero,  in 
his  profusion,  had  his  horses  and  mules  shod  with 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  7 

silver ;  and  his  Empress,  Poppaea,  was  not  content 
with  less  than  gold  for  the  same  purpose.  These 
sandals  were  very  insecure,  and  were  apt  to  be  left 
sticking  in  the  mud ;  they  were,  therefore,  seldom 
put  on  the  animal  for  the  whole  journey,  but  only  at 
the  worst  places.  Nor  do  they  appear  to  have  been 
adequate  to  protect  the  hoof  from  injury ;  for  instance, 
when  Mithridates  was  besieging  the  town  of  Cyzicus, 
in  his  first  war  against  the  Romans,  he  was  obliged  to 
send  away  his  whole  cavalry  to  Bithynia,  because  the 
horses'  hoofs  were  all  worn  down,  and  their  feet 
disordered. 

Here  again,  as  in  the  case  of  the  stirrupless 
saddle,  we  are  lost  in  wonder  at  the  fact,  that  men 
should,  for  nearly  a  thousand  years,  have  gone  on 
fasten  ng  plates  of  metal  under  horses'  hoofs  by  the 
clumsy  means  of  strings  and  bands  ;  and  that  it  should 
never  in  all  that  time  have  occurred  to  them  to  try 
nails  where  strings  had  failed.  Next  to  the  inven- 
tive powers  of  men  there  is  really  nothing  so  wonder- 
ful as  their  want  of  inventiveness,  and  the  stupid  way  in 
which  they  will  continue  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion, doing  something  very  absurd  from  mere  force 
of  habit,  and  utter  want  of  thought !  It  is  humi- 
liating to  think,  how  men  have  been  content  to  remain 
for  ages  separated  by  the  smallest  possible  partitions 
from  discoveries  in  the  arts,  that  tend  to  the  conve- 
nience and  embellishment  of  life.  We  have  had  India 


8  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

rubber  ever  since  America  was  explored,  yet,  until  a 
few  years  ago,  we  made  no  use  of  it  except  for  rubbing 
pencil  marks  out  of  paper  ! 

Here  follows  a  charade  by  no  less  eminent  a 
person  than  the  great  statesman,  Charles  James 
Fox.  Why  do  we  introduce  it  in  this  place  ? 
That  is  a  question  which  the  ingenious  reader  will 
answer  for  himself  when  he  shall  have  solved  the 
charade.  The  key  to  it  will  be  found  in  the  pre- 
ceding pages  : — 

«'  Inscribed  on  many  a  learned  page, 

In  mystic  characters  and  sage, 
Long  time  my  first  has  stood ; 

And  though  its  golden  age  be  past, 

In  wooden  walls  it  yet  may  last, 
Till  clothed  in  flesh  and  blood. 

My  second  is  a  welcome  prize 

For  those  who  love  their  curious  eyes 
With  foreign  sights  to  pamper ; 

But  should  it  chance  their  gaze  to  meet, 

Jll  improvise,  in  the  street, 
Oh !  how  't  would  make  them  scamper  ! 

My  third  'a  a  kind  of  wandering  throne, 

To  woman  limited  alone, 
The  Salique  law  reversing ; 

But  when  the  imaginary  queen 

Prepares  to  act  this  novel  scene, 
Her  royal  part  rehearsing ; 

Overturning  her  presumptuous  plan, 

Up  jumps  the  old  usurper — Man." 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  9 

The  various  uses  for  which  the  horse  is  habitually 
employed,  require  corresponding  varieties  in  the  make 
and  shape  of  the  animal.  The  dray  horses  of  the 
London  brewers  are  very  handsome  ;  but  their  beauty 
is  of  a  different  kind  from  that  of  the  Newmarket 
racer.  That  which  is  a  good  quality  in  one  kind  of 
horse  may  be  a  defect  in  another.  An  animal,  for 
instance,  which  is  intended  for  the  saddle  ought  to 
stand  with  his  fore  legs  erect  ;  if  they  slope  back- 
wards from  shoulder  to  hoof  the  rider  must  be  very 
cautious,  for  he  has  to  do  with  a  stumbler.  A  draught- 
horse,  on  the  other  hand,  ought  to  lean  a  little  for- 
ward over  his  fore  feet  when  at  rest.  That  portion 
of  his  own  weight  which  brings  down  the  ill-made 
saddle-horse  on  his  knees,  is  by  the  draught-horse 
thrown  against  the  collar,  and  helps  him  in  his  labor. 
Look  at  a  team  straining  hard  to  drag  a  heavy  wagon 
out  of  a  rut  or  over  some  obstruction  :  they  fling  them- 
selves forward,  so  as  to  be  kept  from  falling  only  by 
the  traces,  just  as  you  may  see  a  man  doing  who  tugs 
at  a  rope  fastened  to  a  canal-boat,  or  a  truck.  Again, 
though  the  hunter  and  the  racer  are  both  made  for 
speed,  they  must  each  exhibit  certain  peculiarities  of 
form  adapted  to  the  work  they  have  respectively  to  do. 
The  hunter  requires  great  strength  and  elasticity  in 
his  forehand,  to  enable  him  to  bear  the  shock  with 
which  he  alights  on  the  ground  from  a  leap.  In  the 
racer,  on  the  contrary,  the  principal  power  is  wanted 
2* 


10  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

from  behind,  to  propel  the  animal  forward  in  his 
gallop  ;  and  the  very  lowness  of  the  forehand  may 
throw  more  weight  in  front,  and  cause  the  whole 
machine  to  be  more  easily  and  speedily  moved.  The 
hind-legs  of  the  greyhound  are  longer  than  the  fore- 
legs ;  the  difference  is  still  more  remarkable  in  the 
hare,  and  it  is  seen  in  an  extraordinary  degree  in  the 
kangaroo,  an  animal  whose  running  is  a  series  of  pro- 
digious leaps.  The  celebrated  Eclipse,  who  never 
was  beaten,  was  remarkably  low  in  front,  his  hind- 
quarters even  rising  above  his  fore  ones.  As  we  have 
mentioned  the  name  of  this  unrivalled  runner,  we 
cannot  do  less  than  give  some  particulars  of  his  history. 

He  was  bred  by  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  and  sold 
at  his  death  to  Mr.  Wildman,  a  sheep  salesman,  for 
seventy-five  guineas.  Colonel  O'Kelly  purchased  a 
share  of  him  from  Wildman.  In  the  spring  of  the 
following  year,  when  the  reputation  of  this  wonderful 
animal  was  at  its  height,  O'Kelly  wished  to  become 
sole  owner  of  him,  and  bought  the  remaining  share  for 
eleven  hundred  guineas. 

O'Kelly,  aware  of  his  horse's  powers,  backed  him 
freely  on  his  first  race  in  1769.  This  excited  curio- 
sity among  sporting  men ;  they  thought  the  colonel 
must  have  had  some  extraordinary  reason  for  betting 
largely  on  a  horse  that  no  one  had  ever  heard  of 
before,  and  that  had  not  given  any  public  proof  of  his 
powers.  Some  persons,  accordingly,  tried  to  watch 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  11 

one  of  his  trials  ;  which  the  owner,  no  doubt,  wished 
to  keep  as  secret  as  possible.  They  were  a  little  too 
late  on  the  ground ;  but  they  found  an  old  woman, 
who  gave  them  all  the  information  they  wanted.  On 
their  inquiring  whether  she  had  seen  a  race,  she 
replied,  she  could  not  tell  whether  it  was  a  race  or 
not,  but  she  had  just  seen  a  horse  with  a  white  leg 
running  away  at  a  monstrous  rate,  and  another  horse, 
a  great  way  behind,  trying  to  run  after  him  ;  but  she 
was  sure  he  would  never  catch  the  white-legged  horse 
if  he  ran  to  the  world's  end. 

The  first  heat  was  easily  won,  when  O'Kelly,  ob- 
serving that  the  rider  had  been  pulling  at  Eclipse 
during  the  whole  of  the  race,  offered  a  wager  that  he 
would  place  the  horses  in  the  next  heat  (that  is,  that 
he  would  name  the  order  in  which  they  would  be 
when  the  foremost  reached  the  winning  post).  This 
seemed  a  thing  so  highly  improbable  that  he  imme- 
diately had  bets  to  a  large  amount.  Being  called  on 
to  declare,  he  replied — "  Eclipse  first,  and  the  rest 
nowhere  !"  The  event  justified  his  prediction ;  for  all 
the  others  were  distanced  by  Eclipse  with  the  greatest 
ease  (that  is,  he  was  at  the  winning  post  before  they 
had  reached  another  240  yards  behind  it,  called  the 
distancing  post),  and  thus,  in  the  language  of  the  turf, 
they  had  no  place. 

The  pecuniary  value  of  Eclipse  and  his  progeny 
must  have  been  something  enormous.  He  was  the 


12  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

sire  of  354  winners,  and  these  netted  to  their  owners 
more  than  £160,000,  exclusive  of  plates  and  cups. 
Ten  years  after  he  was  withdrawn  from  the  turf; 
O'Kelly  was  asked  at  what  price  he  would  sell  him. 
At  first  he  peremptorily  refused  to  accept  any  price  ; 
but  after  some  reflection,  he  said  he  would  take 
£25,000,  with  an  annuity  of  £500,  besides  certain 
privileges.  The  seeming  extravagance  of  this  sum 
excited  considerable  remark,  but  O'Kelly  declared  he 
had  already  cleared  more  than  £25,000  by  Eclipse,  and 
that  the  animal  was  still  young  enough  to  earn  double 
that  sum. 

From  what  we  have  said  above,  it  appears  that 
there  are  various  standards  of  perfection  for  the  horse's 
form,  and  that  there  must  be  a  certain  vagueness  in 
any  general  description  which  shall  include  them  all. 
It  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  we  are  indebted  to 
Terentius  Varro,  who  wrote  about  the  year  70  B.C., 
for  a  description  of  the  horse  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
so  excellent  a  judge  as  Mr.  Youatt,  has  scarcely  been 
surpassed  in  modern  times  : — "  We  may  prognosticate 
great  things  of  a  colt,"  he  says,  "  if,  when  running  in 
the  pastures,  he  is  ambitious  to  get  before  his  com- 
panions, and  if,  on  coming  to  a  river,  he  strives  to  be 
the  first  to  plunge  into  it.  His  head  should  be  small, 
his  limbs  clean  and  compact,  his  eyes  bright  and 
sparkling,  his  nostrils  open  and  large,  his  ears  placed 
near  each  other,  his  mane  strong  and  full,  his  chest 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  13 

broad,  his  shoulders  flat  and  sloping  backwards,  his 
loins  broad  and  strong,  his  tail  full  and  bushy,  his 
legs  straight  and  even,  his  knees  broad  and  well  knit, 
his  hoofs  hard  and  tough,  and  his  veins  large  and 
swelling  over  all  his  body." 

The  English  thoroughbred  horse,  perhaps  the 
finest  animal  of  his  kind  in  the  world,  derives  his 
descent  almost  wholly  from  the  Arab  and  the  Barb. 
Instead  of  giving  a  prosaic  description  of  his  points, 
which  those  who  desire  it  may  find  in  books  of  a 
more  technical  character  than  ours,  we  will  put  him 
bodily  before  the  reader  in  Barry  Cornwall's  vigorous 
lines  ; 

THE    BLOOD    HORSE. 

"  Gamarra  is  a  noble  steed  ; 

Strong,  black,  and  of  the  desert  breed  ; 

Full  of  fire,  and  full  of  bone  ; 

All  his  line  of  fathers  known  : 
.  Fine  his  nose,  his  nostrils  thin, 

But  blown  abroad  by  the  pride  within ! 

His  mane,  a  stormy  river  flowing ; 

And  his  eyes  like  embers  glowing 

In  the  darkness  of  the  night ; 

And  his  pace  as  swift  as  light. 

Look, — around  his  straining  throat 

Grace  and  shifting  beauty  float ! 

Sinewy  strength  is  on  his  reins, 

And  the  red  blood  gallops  through  his  veins ; 

Richer,  redder,  never  ran 

Through  the  boasting  heart  of  man  ! 


14  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

He  can  trace  his  lineage  higher 
Than  the  Bourbon  dare  aspire, 
Douglas,  Guzman,  or  the  Guelph, 
Or  O'Brien's  blood  itself. 

He,  who  hath  no  peer,  was  born 
Here,  upon  a  red  March  rnorn : 
But  his  famous  fathers  dead 
Were  Arabs  all,  and  Arabs  bred ; 
And  the  last  of  that  great  line 
Trod  like  one  of  race  divine  ! 

And  yet, — he  was  but  friend  to  one 
Who  fed  him  at  the  set  of  sun, 
By  some  lone  fountain  fringed  with  green  : 
With  him, — a  roving  Bedouin, 
He  lived  (none  else  would  he  obey 
Through  all  the  hot  Arabian  day), 
And  died,  untamed,  upon  the  sands 
Where  Balkh  amidst  the  desert  stands  ! " 

Nature  has  assigned  to  many  races  of  animals  cer- 
tain geographical  limits,  beyond  which  they  cannot 
thrive.  Others,  on  the  contrary,  are  so  framed  as  to 
be  capable  of  maintaining  life  and  health  in  countries 
very  widely  diffused,  and  essentially  differing  in  tem- 
perature, climate,  and  food,  from  those  to  which  they 
appear  indigenous.  Fortunately  for  man,  among  this 
number  are  some  of  those  animals  that  render  him 
the  most  essential  services, — as  the  dog,  the  ox,  the 
sheep,  the  hog,  and  the  horse.  The  constitution  of 
these  useful  allies  is  endowed  with  a  capacity  for 
adapting  itself,  more  or  less,  to  external  circum- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  15 

stances ;  above  all  their  respective  bulk  undergoes 
notable  variations  proportioned  to  the  ordinary  supply 
of  food  within  their  reach.  In  the  rich  pastures  of 
Flanders  and  of  Lincolnshire  the  horse  expands  to  its 
largest  dimensions,  whilst  in  mountainous  regions  and 
in  northern  islands  it  becomes  a  pony. 

There  is  an  East  Indian  pony  called  the  Tattoo, 
commonly  from  ten  to  twelve  hands  high  (a  hand  is 
four  inches);  they  are  sometimes  much  smaller. 
Tavernier  describes  one  which  he  saw  ridden  by  a 
young  Mogul  prince,  which  was  not  much  larger 
than  a  greyhound.  In  1765,  one  not  more  than  seven 
hands,  or  twenty-eight  inches  high,  was  sent  to  Eng- 
land as  a  present  to  the  Queen  of  George  III.  It 
was  taken  from  the  ship  to  the  palace  in  a  hackney- 
coach.  It  was  of  a  dun  color,  and  its  hair  resembled 
that  of  a  young  fawn.  It  was  four  years  old,  well 
proportioned,  had  fine  ears,  a  quick  eye,  with  a  hand- 
some long  tail,  and  was  thoroughly  good-natured  and 
manageable. 

Hurdwar,  in  Upper  India,  is  the  site  of  a  great  cattle 
fair  ;  Colonel  Davidson,  describing  his  visit  to  this 
busy  scene,  says,  that  among  the  greatest  curiosities 
he  witnessed  were  half-a-dozen  powerful  ponies  from 
Usbeck  Tartary,  called phooldars,  which  means  fiower- 
marked.  They  were  under  thirteen  hands  high,  and 
of  the  most  curious  compound  colors  or  marks  that 
can  be  imagined.  A  description  cannot  easily  be 


16  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

given,  but  it  may  be  attempted.  Suppose,  in  the 
first  place,  that  the  animal  is  of  a  fine  snow  white  ; 
cover  the  white  with  large,  irregular,  bright  bay  spots  ; 
in- the  middle  of  these  light  bay  let  there  be  dark  bay 
marbled  spots  ;  at  every  six  or  eight  inches  plant 
lozenge  shaped  patches  of  a  very  dark  iron  grey  ;  then 
sprinkle  the  whole  with  dark  flea-bites.  There  is  a 
phooldar !  What  a  sensation  one  of  these  animals 
would  excite  in  the  London  Parks  ! 

The  horses  of  the  Feroe  Islands  are  of  small  growth, 
but  strong,  swift,  and  sure  of  foot,  going  over  the 
roughest  places,  so  that  a  man  may  more  surely  rely 
on  them  than  trust  to  his  own  feet.  In  Suderoe,  one 
of  these  islands,  they  have  a  lighter  and  swifter  breed 
than  in  any  of  the  rest.  On  their  backs  the  inhabitants 
pursue  the  sheep,  which  are  wild  in  this  island ;  the 
pony  carries  the  man  over  places  which  would  be 
otherwise  inaccessible  to  him — follows  his  rider  over 
others — enters  into  the  full  sport  of  the  chase,  and 
even  knocks  down  and  holds  the  prey  under  his  feet 
until  the  rider  can  take  possession  of  it. 

The  British  islands  produce  several  interesting  breeds 
of  ponies.  The  largest  of  these,  the  Scotch  Galloway, 
is  unfortunately  almost  extinct.  It  was  from  thirteen  to 
fourteen  hands  high,  of  a  bright  bay  or  brown,  with 
black  legs,  small  head  and  neck,  and  peculiarly  deep 
and  clean  legs.  Its  qualities  were  speed,  stoutness, 
and  surefootedness  over  a  very  rugged  and  mountain- 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  17 

ous  country.  Dandle  Dinmont's  famous  Dumple  was 
of  this  breed.  Dr.  Anderson  thus  describes  a  Gallo- 
way belonging  to  himself : — "  In  point  of  elegance  of 
shape  it  was  a  perfect  picture,  and  in  disposition  it  was 
gentle  and  compliant.  It  moved  almost  with  a  wish, 
and  never  tired.  I  rode  this  little  creature  for  twenty- 
five  years,  and  twice  in  that  time  I  rode  a  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  at  a  stretch,  without  stopping,  except  to 
bait,  and  that  not  for  above  an  hour  at  a  time.  It  came 
in  at  the  last  stage  with  as  much  ease  and  alacrity  as 
it  travelled  the  first.  I  could  have  undertaken  to  per- 
form on  this  beast,  when  it  was  in  its  prime,  sixty  miles 
a  day  for  a  twelvemonth,  without  any  extraordinary 
exertion." 

The  Exmoor  ponies,  though  generally  ugly  enough, 
are  hardy  and  useful :  one  of  them  has  been  known 
to  clear  a  gate  eight  inches  higher  than  his  back. 
Those  of  Dartmoor  are  larger,  and,  if  possible,  uglier. 
Being  admirably  fitted  for  scrambling  over  the  rough 
roads  and  dreary  wilds  of  that  mountainous  country, 
they  are  in  great  demand  there.  They  exist  almost  in 
a  state  of  nature.  The  late  Captain  Colgrave,  govern- 
or of  the  prison,  had  a  great  desire  to  possess  one  of 
them  somewhat  superior  in  figure  to  his  fellows  ;  and 
having  several  men  to  assist  him,  they  separated  it 
from  the  herd.  They  drove  it  on  some  rocks  by  the 
side  of  a  tor  (an  upright  pointed  hill).  A  man  follow- 
ed on  horseback,  while  the  captain  stood  below  watch- 


18  THE    HORSE   AND   HIS    RIDER. 

ing  the  chase.  The  little  animal,  being  driven  into  a 
corner,  leaped  completely  over  the  man  and  horse,  and 
escaped. 

The  sheltie  or  pony  of  the  Shetland  isles,  is  a  very 
diminutive  animal,  sometimes  not  more  than  thirty 
inches  high,  and  rarely  exceeding  thirty-eight.  He  is 
often  exceedingly  beautiful,  with  a  small  head,  good- 
tempered  countenance,  a  short  neck,  fine  towards  the 
throttle,  shoulders  low  and  thick — in  so  little  a  creature 
far  from  being  a  blemish — back  short,  quarters  ex- 
panded and  powerful,  legs  flat  and  fine,  and  pretty 
round  feet.  These  ponies  possess  immense  strength 
for  their  size  ;  will  fatten  upon  almost  anything,  and 
are  perfectly  docile.  Mr.  Youatt  says  that  one  of  them, 
three  feet  in  height,  carried  a  man  of  twelve  stone  forty 
miles  in  one  day. 

Pony  hunting  used  to  be  one  of  the  favorite  amuse- 
ments of  the  Welsh  farmers  and  peasantry  a  century 
and  a  half  ago,  and  it  has  not  even  now  fallen  alto- 
gether into  disuse.  The  following  story  of  one  of  these 
expeditions  is  related  in  the  Cambrian  Quarterly  Ma- 
gazine : — 

"A  farmer,  named  Hugo  Garonwy,  lived  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Llewyn  Georie.  Although  he  handled 
the  small  tilt  plough,  and  other  farming  tools  in  their 
due  season,  yet  the  catching  of  the  merlin,  the  fox, 
and  the  hare,  were  pursuits  more  congenial  to  his 
tastes ;  and  the  tumbles  and  thumps  which  he  receiv- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  19 

ed,  and  from  which  no  pony  hunter  was  exempt,  served 
but  to  attach  him  to  the  sport.  Rugged,  however,  as 
were  the  Merioneddshire  coast  and  its  environs,  and 
abounding  with  precipices  and  morasses,  the  hunter 
sometimes  experienced  worse  mishaps,  and  so  it  hap- 
pened with  Garonwy. 

"  He  set  out  one  morning  with  his  lasso  coiled 
round  his  waist,  and  attended  by  two  hardy  de- 
pendents and  their  greyhounds.  The  lasso  was  then 
familiar  to  the  Welshman,  and  as  adroitly  managed 
by  him  as  by  any  guacho  on  the  plains  of  South 
America.  As  the  hunters  climbed  the  mountain's 
brow,  the  distant  herd  of  ponies  took  alarm — some- 
times galloping  onwards,  and  then  suddenly  halting 
and  wheeling  round,  snorting  as  if  in  defiance  of  the 
intruders,  and  furiously  pawing  the  ground.  Garon- 
wy, with  the  assistance  of  his  servants  and  the  grey- 
hounds, contrived  to  coop  them  up  in  a  corner  of 
the  hills,  where  perpendicular  rocks  prevented  their 
escape. 

"  Already  had  he  captured  three  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful little  fellowrs  in  the  world,  which  he  expected  to 
sell  for  £4  or  £5  each  at  the  next  Bala  fair,  to  him  a 
considerable  sum,  and  amounting  to  a  fourth  of  the 
annual  rent  which  he  paid  for  his  sheep  walk.  There 
remained,  however,  one  most  untamable  creature, 
whose  crested  mane,  and  flowing  tail,  and  wild  eye, 
and  distended  nostril,  showed  that  he  was  a  perfect 


20  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

Bucephalus  of  the  hills ;  nor,  indeed,  was  it  safe  to 
attack  him  in  the  ordinary  way.  Many  of  ihe  three 
year  olds  had  been  known  to  break  the  legs  of  their 
pursuers,  and  some  had  been  dismounted  and  trampled 
to  death. 

"  Garonwy  was  determined  to  give  the  noble  fellow 
a  chase  over  the  hills,  and  so  overcome  him  by  fatigue 
before  the  lasso  was  flung.  The  dogs  were  unslipped, 
and  off  they  went  swift  as  the  winds,  Garonwy  follow- 
ing, and  the  two  assistants  posted  in  a  neighboring 
eminence.  Vain  was  the  effort  to  tire  the  merlin. 
Hugo,  naturally  impatient,  and  without  waiting  to 
ascertain  that  the  coils  were  all  clear,  flung  the  lasso 
over  the  head  of  the  wild  horse.  The  extremity  of 
the  cord  was  twisted  round  his  own  body,  and  tighten- 
ing as  the  animal  struggled,  the  compression  became 
insupportable,  and  at  length,  in  spite  of  every  effort 
to  disengage  himself,  Garonwy  was  dragged  from  his 
horse. 

"The  affrighted  merlin,  finding  himself  manacled 
by  the  rope,  darted  off  with  all  the  speed  of  which  he 
was  capable,  dragging  poor  Garonwy  over  the  rocky 
ground  and  stunted  brushwood.  This  occurred  at 
some  distance  from  the  men.  They  called  in  their 
dogs  that  the  speed  of  the  merlin  might  not  be  in- 
creased; but  ere  they  could  arrive  at  the  spot  at 
which  the  accident  happened,  the  horse  and  the  man 
had  vanished.  Whether  the  sufferings  of  the  hunter 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  21 

were  protracted,  or  he  was  dashed  against  a  rock  at 
the  commencement  of  the  horrible  race,  was  never 
known ;  but  the  wild  animal,  frenzied  and  blinded  by 
terror,  rushed  over  a  beetling  cliff,  at  a  considerable 
distance,  overhanging  the  sea-shore,  and  the  hunter 
and  the  horse  were  found  at  the  bottom,  a  misshapen 
semblance  of  what  they  had  been  when  living." 


CHAPTER  II. 

Physiognomy  of  the  Horse — Sagacity,  Fidelity,  Sociability,  &c. ; 
Anecdotes — Insanity. 

THE  physiognomy  of  the  horse  is  an  interesting  sub- 
ject. Those  who  have  made  it  their  study  can  read 
the  animal's  passions  and  purposes  in  his  face.  The 
following  hints  on  this  topic  are  chiefly  from  Professor 
Youatt : — 

The  eye  enables  us  with  tolerable  accuracy  to 
guess  at  the  animal's  temper.  If  much  of  the  white  is 
seen,  he  is  not  to  be  lightly  trusted.  The  mischievous 
horse  is  always  slily  on  the  look  out  for  opportunities 
to  indulge  his  malice,  and  the  frequent  backward 
direction  of  the  eye,  which  makes  the  white  most 
perceptible,  is  only  to  give  surer  effects  to  the  blow 
which  he  is  about  to  aim. 

The  quality  of  the  horse's  vision  differs  from  that 
of  man.  The  former  can  take  in  a  wider  range  in 
consequence  of  the  lateral  position  of  the  eyes  and 
their  distance  apart ;  and  when  the  animal,  with  its 
head  down,  is  quietly  grazing,  it  can  see  objects  with 
facility  in  every  direction  round  it.  Man's  vision  is 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  23 

more  limited  in  range,  but  it  is  probably  more  acute, 
because  the  black  lining  of  the  human  eye  renders  it 
a  more  perfect  camera  obscura,  and  gives  more  vivid- 
ness to  the  pictures  formed  within  it.  The  lining 
membrane  of  the  horse's  eye  is  of  a  beautiful  sea 
green  color,  in  consequence  of  which  it  absorbs  so 
much  the  less  light,  and  thereby  affords  increased 
power  of  vision  in  the  night.  Every  rider  must  be 
aware  from  experience  that  his  horse  can  discern  sur- 
rounding objects,  when  the  gloom  of  evening  conceals 
them  from  his  own  eyesight.  All  animals  who  have 
to  seek  their  food  by  night  have  the  interior  of  the 
eye  more  or  less  bright ;  in  the  wolf  and  the  dog  it  is 
grey  ;  and  in  all  varieties  of  the  cat  species  it  is 
yellow  ;  the  eyes  of  the  lion  have  been  compared  to 
two  naming  torches  in  the  night.  There  are  indi- 
viduals of  the  human  race  called  Albinos,  whose  eyes 
look  red  like  those  of  ferrets,  from  the  absence  of  the 
usual  black  pigment,  and  these  persons  are  almost 
blind  by  day,  but  see  with  ease  in  what  to  other  men 
seems  thick  darkness. 

"Many  persons  erroneously  suppose  that  the  flow 
of  tears,  caused  by  bodily  pain  or  emotions  of  the 
mind,  is  peculiar  to  man.  But  Shakspeare  says  of 
the  wounded  stag  : — 

"  The  big  round  tears 

Coursed  one  another  down  his  innocent  nose 
In  piteous  chase ;" 


24  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

and  horses  are  repeatedly  seen  to  weep  under  acute 
pain  or  brutal  usage.  Mr.  Lawrence,  speaking  of 
the  cruelty  exercised  by  some  dealers  in  what  they 
call  "  firing"  a  horse  before  he  is  led  out  for  sale,  in 
order  to  rouse  every  spark  of  mettle,  says,  "  More  than 
fifty  years  have  passed  away,  and  I  have  before  ray 
eyes  a  poor  mare  stone  blind,  exquisitely  shaped,  and 
showing  all  the  marks  of  high  blood,  whom  I  saw  un- 
mercifully cut  with  the  whip  a  quarter  of  an  hour  be- 
fore the  sale,  to  bring  her  to  the  use  of  her  stiffened 
limbs,  while  the  tears  were  trickling  down  her  cheeks" 
The  size,  setting  on,  and  motion  of  the  ear,  are  im- 
portant points.  Ears  rather  small  than  large,  placed 
not  too  far  apart,  erect  and  quick  in  motion,  indicate 
both  breeding  and  spirit ;  and  if  a  horse  is  in  the  fre- 
quent habit  of  carrying  one  ear  forward,  and  the  other 
backward,  and  especially  if  he  does  so  on  a  journey, 
he  will  generally  possess  both  spirit  and  continuance. 
The  stretching  of  the  ears  in  contrary  directions  shows 
that  he  is  attentive  to  everything  that  is  passing  round 
him  ;  and  while  he  is  doing  this  he  cannot  be  much 
fatigued,  or  likely  soon  to  become  so.  It  has  been  re- 
marked, that  few  horses  sleep  without  pointing  one 
ear  forward  and  the  other  backward,  in  order  that  they 
may  receive  notice  of  the  approach  of  objects  in  every 
direction.  When  horses  or  mules  march  in  company 
at  night,  those  in  front  direct  their  ears  forward,  those 
in  the  rear  direct  them  backward,  and  those  in  the 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  25 

centre  turn  them  laterally  or  across  ;  the  whole  troop 
seeming  thus  to  be  actuated  by  one  feeling  which 
watches  the  general  safety. 

The  ear  of  the  horse  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
parts  about  him,  and  by  few  things  is  the  temper  more 
surely  indicated  than  by  its  motion.  The  ear  is  more 
intelligible  even  than  the  eye  ;  and  a  person  accus- 
tomed to  the  horse  can  tell,  by  the  expressive  motion 
of  that  organ,  almost  all  that  he  thinks  or  means. 
When  a  horse  lays  his  ears  flat  back  on  his  neck,  he 
most  assuredly  is  meditating  mischief,  and  the  slander 
by  should  beware  of  his  heels  or  his  teeth.  In  play 
the  ears  will  be  laid  back,  but  not  so  decidedly  or  so 
long.  A  quick  change  in  their  position,  and  more 
particularly  the  expression  of  the  eye  at  the  time,  will 
distinguish  between  playfulness  and  vice. 

The  hearing  of  the  horse  is  remarkably  acute.  A 
thousand  vibrations  of  the  air,  too  slight  to  make  any 
impression  on  the  human  ear,  are  readily  perceived  by 
him.  It  is  well  known  to  every  hunting  man,  that  the 
cry  of  hounds  will  be  recognized  by  the  horse,  and  his 
ears  will  be  erect,  and  he  will  be  all  spirit  and  impa- 
tience, a  considerable  time  before  the  rider  is  consci- 
ous of  the  least  sound.  Need  anything  more  be  said 
to  expose  the  absurdity  of  cropping  ?  The  cruel  and 
stupid  custom  of  cutting  off  the  ears  of  the  horse  be- 
gan (to  its  shame  be  it  said !)  in  Great  Britain,  and 
was  so  obstinately  pursued  for  many  years,  that,  at 
3 


26  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

length,  it  became  hereditary  in  some  cases,  and  a 
breed  of  horses  born  without  ears  was  produced. 
Fortunately  for  this  too  often  abused  animal,  cropping 
is  not  now  the  fashion.  The  practice  of  lopping  off 
two-thirds  of  the  tail  is  more  excusable,  on  the  ground 
of  convenience  to  the  rider.  In  wet  weather  and  miry 
roads,  the  switching  of  a  long  drabbled  swab  is  not 
desirable.  The  question  of  long  tails  or  short  tails  is 
a  question  between  comfort  and  beauty  of  form. 
Now,  much  as  we  may  value  the  former,  we  think  it 
ought  not  quite  to  overbear  all  consideration  for  the 
latter ;  and  we  are  glad  to  see  that  in  this  instance, 
too,  fashion  is  beginning  to  side  with  reason  and  good 
taste. 

The  lips  of  the  horse  are  his  hands ;  they  serve 
both  as  organs  of  touch  and  as  instruments  of  prehen- 
sion, as  may  be  seen  when  the  animal  is  feeding.  He 
gathers  up  his  corn  with  them,  and  collects  the  grass 
into  a  tuft  before  he  bites  it.  The  lips  should  be  thin, 
but  firm  and  regularly  closed.  Flabby,  pendulous  lips 
indicate  weakness  or  old  age,  or  dulness  and  sluggish- 
ness. 

It  is  thought,  perhaps,  with  some  degree  of  truth, 
that  indications  of  character  may  be  drawn  from  the 
shape  of  the  nose  :  but  the  rules  in  this  case  are  the 
reverse  of  those  applicable  in  judging  of  human  noses  ; 
for,  in  the  horse,  the  prominent  Roman  nose  bespeaks 
an  easy,  good-tempered  kind  of  beast,  but  rather  of  a 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

plebeian  order  of  mind  and  body ;  the  horse  with  a 
straight,  or  Grecian  nose,  may  be  good  or  bad  temper- 
ed, but  not  often  either  to  any  great  excess  ;  but  a 
hollow  nose  (a  cocked  one,  as  we  should  say,  in  speak- 
ing of  the  human  face)  generally  indicates  some  breed- 
ing, especially  if  the  head  is  small,  but  occasionally 
accompanied  by  a  vicious,  uncontrollable  disposition. 
"  There  is  another  way,  however,"  says  Mr.  Youatt, 
"  in  which  the  nasal  bones  do  more  certainly  indicate 
the  breed  ;  viz.,  by  their  comparative  length  or  short- 
ness. There  is  no  surer  criterion  of  a  well-bred  horse 
than  a  broad,  angular  forehead,  prominent  features, 
and  a  short  face  ;  nor  of  a  horse  with  little  breeding 
than  a  narrow  forehead,  small  features,  and  lengthened 
nose.  The  comparative  development  of  the  head  and 
face  indicates,  with  little  error,  the  preponderance  of 
the  animal  or  intellectual  principle." 

As  the  horse  breathes  only  through  the  nose,  it  is 
important  that  the  openings  into  that  cavity  should  be 
free,  and  capable  of  dilating  sufficiently  to  allow  of 
the  passage  of  a  large  volume  of  air  when  the  animal 
is  put  to  his  speed.  The  expanded  nostril  is  a  strik- 
ing feature  in  the  blood  horse,  especially  when  he 
has  been  excited  and  not  overblown.  What  a  sudden 
effect  is  given  to  the  countenance  of  the  hunter,  when 
his  ears  become  erect,  and  his  nostrils  dilate,  as  he  first 
listens  to  the  cry  of  the  hounds,  and  snorts  and  scents 


28  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

them  afar  off !  And  the  war-horse — "  the  glory  of  his 
nostrils  is  terrible  ! " 

The  following  anecdote,  related  by  Professor  Kiigler, 
of  Halle,  proves  both  the  sagacity  and  the  fidelity  of 
the  horse  : — A  friend  of  his,  riding  home  through  a 
wood  on  a  dark  night,  struck  his  head  against  a  branch 
of  a  tree,  and  fell  stunned  to  the  ground.  The  horse 
immediately  returned  to  the  house  they  had  left,  and 
which  was  now  closed,  for  the  family  had  gone  to  bed. 
He  pawed  at  the  door  until  some  one  rose  and  opened 
it,  and  then  he  turned  about ;  and  the  man,  wondering 
at  the  affair,  followed  him.  The  faithful  and  intelli- 
gent animal  led  him  to  the  place  where  his  master  lay 
senseless.  A  still  more  interesting  incident,  of  a  simi- 
lar kind,  occurred  in  this  country : — A  little  girl,  the 
daughter  of  a  gentleman  in  Warwickshire,  playing  on 
the  banks  of  a  canal  which  runs  through  his  grounds, 
fell  into  the  water,  and  would  in  all  probability  have 
been  drowned,  had  not  a  small  pony,  which  had  long 
been  kept  in  the  family,  plunged  into  the  stream,  and 
brought  the  child  safely  to  land. 

Mr.  Jesse  gives  an  instance  of  what  may  fairly  be 
called  the  sensibility  of  the  horse,  and  his  keen  per- 
ception of  danger.  A  friend  of  his  was  riding  a  horse 
one  day  in  India,  attended  by  a  spaniel  which  had  long 
been  its  companion.  The  dog  ran  into  some  long 
grass,  and  came  out  crying  and  shaking  its  head ;  the 
horse,  contrary  to  his  usual  custom,  not  only  avoided 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  29 

the  dog,  but  showed  the  utmost  dread  of  his  coming 
near  him.  The  dog  soon  died,  and  upon  examination 
it  was  found  that  he  had  been  bitten  in  the  tongue  by 
a  venomous  snake. 

But  the  horse's  sensibility  is  not  a  selfish  quality  ; 
he  often  displays  the  most  generous  solicitude,  to  avoid 
injuring  other  creatures.  It  is  not  an  uncommon  thing 
for  a  fallen  soldier  to  escape  without  one  touch  of  a 
hoof,  though  a  charge  of  cavalry  pass  over  his  pros- 
trate body,  every  animal  in  the  line  leaping  clear  over 
him.  An  old  horse  belonging  to  a  carter  in  Strath- 
negie,  Fifeshire,  had  been  particularly  familiar  with 
the  ways  of  children,  for  his  master  had  a  large  family. 
One  day,  as  this  animal  was  dragging  a  loaded  cart 
through  a  narrow  lane  near  the  village,  a  young  child 
happened  to  be  sprawling  in  the  road,  and  would  in- 
evitably have  been  crushed  by  the  wheels,  if  the  saga- 
cious animal  had  not  prevented  it.  He  carefully  took 
up  the  child  by  the  clothes  with  his  teeth,  carried  it  for 
a  few  yards,  and  then  placed  it  on  a  bank  by  the  way- 
side, moving  slowly  all  the  while,  and  looking  back  as 
if  to  satisfy  himself  that  the  wheels  of  the  cart  had 
cleared  it. 

Gregarious  in  the  wild  state,  the  horse  retains  the 
same  sociable  disposition  in  domestication,  and  shows 
a  great  aversion  to  be  left  alone.  This  companionable 
temper  appears  very  pleasingly  in  the  field,  in  the  gam- 
boling of  horses  with  each  other,  in  their  manifest 


30  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

curiosity  when  a  strange  horse  comes  in  sight,  and  the 
animated  gestures  and  neighings  with  which  they  try 
to  strike  up  an  acquaintance,  and,  above  all,  in  the  lit- 
tle kind  offices  they  perform  mutually.  It  is  an  every- 
day occurrence  to  see  two  horses  gently  scratching 
each  other ;  and  Mr.  Jesse  speaks  of  it  as  a  well- 
known  fact,  that  in  hot  countries  where  the  blood  of 
the  horses  is  heated  by  the  climate,  they  are  in  the 
constant  habit  of  bleeding  each  other,  and  sometimes 
of  bleeding  themselves,  by  biting  the  neck  or  the 
shoulder.  So  strong  is  the  horse's  aptitude  for  friend- 
ship, that  he  will  attach  himself  to  almost  any  kind  of 
animal  rather  than  remain  solitary.  White,  of  Sel- 
borne,  relates  an  instance  of  this  kind  between  a  horse 
and  a  hen.  Those  two  incongruous  animals  spent 
much  of  their  lime  together  in  a  lonely  orchard,  where 
they  saw  no  creature  but  each  other,  and  by  degrees 
an  apparent  regard  sprang  up  between  them.  The 
fowl  would  approach  the  quadruped  with  notes  of  com- 
placency, rubbing  herself  quietly  against  his  legs, 
whilst  the  horse  would  look  down  with  satisfaction, 
and  move  with  the  greatest  caution  and  circumspection, 
lest  he  should  trample  on  his  diminutive  companion. 
In  the  portrait  of  the  celebrated  Godolphin  Arabian  is 
seen  a  cat,  which  was  his  inseparable  companion  in  the 
stable,  and  died  really  broken-hearted  for  his  loss. 
Another  race-horse  and  cat  were  great  friends,  and  the 
latter  generally  slept  in  the  manger.  When  the  horse 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  31 

was  going  to  have  his  oats,  he  always  took  up  the  cat 
by  the  skin  of  her  neck,  and  dropped  her  into  the  next 
stall,  that  she  might  not  be  in  his  way  while  he  was 
feeding.  At  all  other  times  he  seemed  pleased  to  have 
her  near  him.  Eclipse  was  fond  of  a  sheep,  and 
Chillaby,  called  from  his  great  ferocity,  the  Mad 
Arabian,  whom  only  one  of  the  grooms  dared  to  ap- 
proach, and  who  savagely  tore  to  pieces  the  image  of 
a  man  purposely  placed  in  his  way,  had  his  peculiar 
attachment,  to  a  lamb  that  used  to  spend  many  an  hour 
in  butting  away  the  flies  from  his  friend. 

"  A  gentleman  of  Bristol  had  a  greyhound,  which 
slept  in  the  stable  along  with  a  very  fine  hunter  of 
about  five  years  of  age.  These  animals  became  mu- 
tually attached,  and  regarded  each  other  with  the  most 
tender  affection.  The  greyhound  always  lay  under 
the  manger  beside  the  horse,  which  was  so  fond  of 
him,  that  he  became  unhappy  and  restless  when  the 
dog  was  out  of  his  sight.  It  was  a  common  practice 
with  the  gentleman  to  whom  they  belonged,  to  call  at 
the  stable  for  the  greyhound  to  accompany  him  in  his 
walks  :  on  such  occasions  the  horse  would  look  over 
his  shoulder  at  the  dog  with  much  anxiety,  and  neigh 
in  a  manner  which  plainly  said — '  Let  me  also  accom- 
pany you.'  When  the  dog  returned  to  the  stable,  he 
was  always  welcomed  by  a  loud  neigh — he  ran  up  to 
the  horse  and  licked  his  nose  ;  in  return,  the  horse 
would  scratch  the  dog's  back  with  his  teeth.  One 


32  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

day,  when  the  groom  was  out  with  the  horse  and  grey- 
hound for  exercise,  a  large  dog  attacked  the  latter,  and 
quickly  bore  him  to  the  ground  ;  on  which  the  horse 
threw  back  his  ears,  and,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of 
the  groom,  rushed  at  the  strange  dog  that  was  worry- 
ing at  the  greyhound,  seized  him  by  the  back  with  his 
teeth,  which  speedily  made  him  quit  his  hold,  and 
shook  him  till  a  large  piece  of  the  skin  gave  way. 
The  offender  no  sooner  got  on  his  feet,  than  he  judged 
it  prudent  to  beat  a  precipitate  retreat  from  so  formi- 
dable an  opponent." 

Another  instance  of  attachment  between  a  horse  and 
a  dog  is  related  by  Captain  Brown,  in  his  "  Biogra- 
phical Sketches  :"  "  My  friend,  Dr.  Smith,  of  the 
Queen's  County  Militia,  Ireland,  had  a  beautiful  hack- 
ney, which,  although  extremely  spirited,  was  at  the 
same  time  wonderfully  docile.  He  had  also  a  fine 
Newfoundland  dog,  named  Caesar.  These  animals 
were  mutually  attached,  and  seemed  perfectly  ac- 
quainted with  each  other's  actions.  The  dog  was 
always  kept  in  the  stable  at  night,  and  uniformly  lay 
beside  the  horse.  When  Dr.  Smith  practised  in 
Dublin,  he  visited  his  patients  on  horseback,  and  had 
no  other  servant  to  take  care  of  the  horse,  while  in 
their  houses,  but  Caesar,  to  whom  he  gave  the  reins 
in  his  mouth.  The  horse  stood  very  quietly,  even  in 
that  crowded  city,  beside  his  friend  Caesar.  When  it 
happened  that  the  doctor  had  a  patient  not  far  distant 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  33 

from  the  place  where  he  paid  his  last  visit,  he  did  not 
think  it  worth  while  to  remount,  but  called  to  his 
horse  and  Caesar.  They  both  instantly  obeyed,  and 
remained  quietly  opposite  the  door  where  he  entered, 
until  he  came  out  again.  While  he  remained  in  Mary- 
borough, Queen's  County,  where  I  commanded  a  de- 
tachment, I  had  many  opportunities  of  witnessing  the 
friendship  and  sagacity  of  these  intelligent  animals. 
The  horse  seemed  to  be  as  implicitly  obedient  to  his 
friend  Caesar  as  he  could  possibly  be  to  his  groom. 
The  doctor  would  go  to  the  stable,  accompanied  by 
his  dog,  put  the  bridle  upon  his  horse,  and  giving  the 
reins  to  Caesar,  bid  him  take  the  horse  to  the  water. 
They  both  understood  what  was  to  be  done,  when  off 
trotted  Caesar,  followed  by  the  horse,  which  frisked, 
capered,  and  played  with  the  dog  all  the  way  to  the 
rivulet,  about  three  hundred  yards  distant  from  the 
stable.  We  followed  at  a  great,  distance,  always 
keeping  as  far  off  as  possible,  so  that  we  could  ob- 
serve their  manoeuvres.  They  invariably  went  to  the 
stream,  and  after  the  horse  had  quenched  his  thirst, 
both  returned  in  the  same  playful  manner  as  they  had 
gone  out.  i 

"  The  doctor  frequently  desired  Caesar  to  make  the 
horse  leap  over  this  stream,  which  might  be  about  six 
feet  broad.  The  dog,  by  a  kind  of  bark,  and  leaping 
up  towards  the  horse's  head,  intimated  to  him  what  he 
wanted,  which  was  quickly  understood ;  and  he  can- 
3* 


34  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

tered  off,  preceded  by  Caesar,  and  took  the  leap  in  a 
neat  and  regular  style.  The  dog  was  then  desired  to 
bring  him  back  again,  and  it  was  speedily  done  in  the 
same  manner.  On  one  occasion  Caesar  lost  hold  of 
the  reins,  and  as  soon  as  the  horse  cleared  the  leap, 
he  immediately  trotted  up  to  his  canine  guide,  who 
took  hold  of  the  bridle,  and  led  him  through  the  water 
quietly." 

"  A  gentleman,"  says  Mr.  Jesse,  "  who  resides  near 
Southampton,  had  a  retriever,  a  large  half-bred  New- 
foundland dog,  that  had  formed  a  friendship  with  a 
horse,  which,  at  the  time  I  am  referring  to,  was  turned 
out  into  a  paddock  near  the  house.  The  dog,  hunting 
one  day  by  himself,  was  caught  in  a  snare  by  the  leg, 
and  after  struggling  some  time,  during  which  its  cries 
were  heard,  he  disengaged  himself  so  far  from  his 
confinement  as  to  break  the  string  of  the  snare,  the 
wire  being  still  attached  to  the  limb.  In  this  situation 
he  was  observed  by  my  friend  and  his  host  to  go  to 
the  horse  in  the  paddock,  and  seemed  at  once  to  make 
him  aware  of  his  distress.  The  horse  gently  put  his 
nose  down  to  the  dog,  and  the  dog  having  licked  it, 
lifted  up  the  leg  to  which  the  snare  was  attached  in  a 
manner  which  could  not  be  mistaken.  The  horse 
immediately  began  to  try  to  disengage  the  snare,  by 
applying  his  teeth  to  it  in  a  gentle  and  cautious 
manner,  although  he  was  unable  to  succeed  in  remov- 
ing it.  This  is  by  no  means  a  solitary  instance  of  the 


I 

THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  35 

sympathy  which  animals  show  for  each  other  when  in 
distress." 

Man  may  fully  avail  himself  of  this  amiable  dispo- 
sition of  the  horse  ;  it  is  rarely  the  latter's  fault  if  he 
and  his  owner  are  not  on  the  best  possible  terms.  How 
often  has  the  horse  been  found  grazing  by  the  side  of 
his  drunken,  prostrate  master,  whom  he  would  not 
leave.  "We  have  seen,"  says  Mr.  Elaine,  "  a  child  of 
five  years  old  purposely  sent  by  the  wife  of  the  coach- 
man to  quiet  an  unruly  and  noisy  coach-horse,  for  to 
no  other  person  would  he  yield  such  obedience ;  but 
a  pat  from  her  tiny  hand,  or  her  infantile  inquiry — 
'  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?'  was  sufficient  to  allay 
every  obstreperous  symptom.  But  it  was  to  her  only 
he  yielded  such  submission,  for  otherwise  he  was  a 
high-spirited  and  really  intractable  animal.  Often 
has  this  child  been  found  lying  asleep  on  the  neck  of 
the  horse,  when  he  had  lain  himself  down  in  his  stall, 
and  so  long  as  she  continued  to  sleep,  so  long  the 
horse  invariably  remained  in  his  recumbent  position." 

There  is  something  almost  mysterious  in  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  horse  contrives  to  pick  his  way  in 
safety  through  dangerous  and  deceitful  ground,  and 
to  discover  and  avoid  perils  of  which  his  master  is 
quite  unsuspicious.  In  all  doubtful  cases  the  animal's 
head  should  be  left  free,  that  he  may  put  his  nose  to 
the  ground,  and  examine  it  by  touch,  as  well  as  by 
sight  and  hearing  (the  muzzle  is  the  peculiar  organ  of 


36  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

touch  in  the  horse),  and  he  will  then  seldom  fail  to 
judge  promptly  and  unerringly  whether  or  not  he  may 
venture  to  proceed.  But  even  when  the  animal  is 
confined  in  harness  and  restrained  from  the  free  use 
of  all  his  faculties,  he  sometimes  exercises  his  won- 
derful instinct  in  the  happiest  manner.  Jn  the  very 
month  in  which  we  are  writing  (January,  1 846),  seve- 
ral hundred  feet  of  the  viaduct  of  Barentin  over  the 
Rouen  and  Havre  railway  came  down  with  a  sudden 
crash.  Just  before  the  fall,  Monsieur  Lorgery,  flour 
merchant  of  Pavilly,  was  about  to  cross  one  of  the 
arches  in  his  cabriolet,  when  the  horse  stopped  short 
and  refused  to  pass.  M.  Lorgery  struck  the  animal 
with  his  whip,  but  all  in  vain — he  refused  to  stir.  At 
the  moment  while  his  unsuspecting  driver  was  still 
urging  him  on,  the  fall  took  place. 

It  is  partly  owing  to  the  faculty  of  discerning  the 
obscurest  traces  of  a  frequented,  or  at  least  a  prac- 
ticable road,  and  partly  to  that  tenacious  power  of 
memory  which  enables  a  horse  to  recognize  a  road  he 
has  once  traversed,  that  bewildered  travellers,  from 
the  days  of  knight-errantry  downwards,  have  found  it 
good  policy  to  throw  the  reins  on  their  steed's  neck, 
and  trust  themselves  implicitly  to  his  guidance.  Along 
with  this  retentive  memory  the  horse  combines  a  very 
business-like  observance  of  habit  and  routine.  The 
author  of  "The  Menageries"  knew  a  horse  which, 
being  accustomed  to  make  a  journey  once  a  week 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  37 

with  the  newsman  of  a  provincial  paper,  always 
stopped  at  the  houses  of  the  several  customers, 
although  they  were  sixty  or  seventy  in  number.  But 
further,  there  were  two  persons  in  the  route  who  took 
one  paper  between  them,  and  each  claimed  the  privi- 
lege of  receiving  it  first  on  the  alternate  Sunday. 
The  horse  soon  became  accustomed  to  this  regulation  ; 
although  the  parties  lived  two  miles  asunder,  he 
stopped  once  a  fortnight  at  the  door  of  the  half- 
customer  at  Thorpe,  and  once  a  fortnight  at  that  of 
the  half-customer  at  Chertsey ;  and  never  did  he 
forget  this  arrangement^  which  lasted  several  years, 
or  stop  unnecessarily  after  he  had  once  thoroughly 
understood  the  rule. 

The  docility  and  intelligence  of  the  horse  are 
abundantly  shown  in  the  feats  he  is  trained  to  per- 
form in  the  Circus  ;  but  those  which  he  is  self-taught 
are  still  more  interesting.  Lord  Brougham  in  his 
"  Dissertations"  says,  he  knew  a  pony  that  used  to 
open  the  latch  of  the  stable  door,  and  also  raise  the 
lid  of  the  corn  chest ;  and  he  notices  the  instance  of 
a  horse  opening  the  wicket-gate  of  a  field  by  pressing 
down  the  upright  bar,  as  a  man  would  do, — "  actions," 
he  observes,  "  which  the  animals  must  have  learned 
from  observation,  as  it  is  very  unlikely  that  they  were 
taught."  Such  feats  are  not  uncommon;  but  the 
following  is,  we  believe,  unique.  In  1794,  a  gentle- 
man in  Leeds  had  a  horse  which,  after  having  been 


38  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

kept  up  in  the  stable  for  some  time,  and  turned  out 
into  a  field  where  there  was  a  pump  well  supplied 
with  water,  regularly  obtained  a  quantity  therefrom 
by  his  own  dexterity.  For  this  purpose,  the  animal 
was  observed  to  take  the  handle  into  his  mouth,  and 
work  it  with  his  head,  in  a  way  exactly  similar  to 
that  done  by  the  hand  of  man,  until  a  sufficiency  was 
procured. 

The  force  of  habit  is  particularly  strong  in  the 
old  hunter  and  in  the  war-horse.  The  Tyrolese, 
irt  one  of  their  insurrections  in  1809,  took  fifteen 
Bavarian  horses,  and  mounted  them  with  fifteen  of 
their  own  men ;  but  in  a  skirmish  with  a  squadron  of 
the  same  regiment,  no  sooner  did  these  horses  hear 
the  trumpet  and  recognize  the  uniform  of  their  old 
masters,  than  they  set  off  at  full  gallop,  and  carried 
their  riders,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  into  the 
Bavarian  ranks,  where  they  were  made  prisoners. 
But  inveterate  habits  are  contracted  in  peace  as  well 
as  in  war,  domi  mililiaque,  a  truth  which  was  curiously 
exemplified  in  a  case  that  fell  under  our  own  observa- 
tion. Some  ladies  of  our  acquaintance  in  Essex 
bought  a  very  respectable,  middle  aged,  black-coated 
horse,  to  draw  their  four-wheeled  open  chaise,  driven 
by  their  own  fair  hands.  At  first  they  were  greatly 
pleased  with  their  bargain  ;  the  horse  was  as  strong 
as  an  elephant,  as  gentle  as  a  lamb,  and  as  sedate  as 
a  parish  clerk.  But  he  soon  gave  proof  of  very 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  39 

ungenteel  propensities.  No  sooner  did  a  public 
house  come  in  view  than  he  would  rush  up  to  the 
door,  in  defiance  of  whip  and  rein,  and  persist  in 
remaining  there  a  reasonable  drinking  time,  thereby 
exposing  the  reputation  of  his  mistresses  to  very 
shocking  surmises.  It  afterwards  came  out  that  he 
had  learned  these  ways  of  a  jolly  old  farmer  in  whose 
possession  he  had  been  for  some  years. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  famous  trotter  belonging 
to  a  butcher,  which  attracted  the  admiration  of  a 
gentleman  by  its  splendid  action,  and  was  bought  by 
him  at  a  very  high  price.  But  no  long  time  elapsed 
before  the  purchaser  came  to  the  conclusion  that  he 
had  been  taken  in ;  the  horse  was  decidedly  a  dull, 
lazy  brute  ;  it  was  all  over  with  his  fine  trotting  ;  and 
the  butcher  who  sold  him  was,  no  doubt,  aware  that 
the  animal  labored  under  some  unsoundness  that 
destroyed  his  former  high  qualities.  The  gentleman 
took  the  horse  to  its  former  owner,  and  indignantly 
denounced  the  fraud  that  had  been  practised  upon' 
him.  The  butcher  listened  in  silence  to  the  stormy 
harangue,  and  then  turning  to  one  of  his  men,  who 
was  leaving  the  shop  with  a  tray  of  meat  on  his 
shoulder,  he  said  to  him,  "  Here,  Dick,  jump  up,  just 
as  you  are,  and  let  us  see  if  the  horse  can't  trot  a  bit." 
The  man  did  so,  and  off  started  the  horse  in  the  very 
best  style.  The  gentleman  was  amazed  and  con- 
founded :  "I  can  never  make  him  go  like  that !"  he 


40  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

said.  "  That's  a  pity,  sir,"  replied  the  butcher ; 
"  you  see  it  is  not  his  fault.  But  I'll  tell  you  what  it 
is ;  you  just  please  to  mount,  and  let  me  put  a  tray  of 
meat  on  the  saddle  before  you,  and  then  I  warrant 
you'll  say  he  goes  fast  enough  !" 

Horses  often  exhibit  a  good  deal  of  cunning.  The 
late  General  Pater,  of  the  East  India  service,  was  a 
remarkably  fat  man.  While  stationed  at  Madras,  he 
purchased  a  charger,  which,  after  a  short  trial,  all  at 
once  betook  himself  to  a  trick  of  lying  down  when- 
ever he  prepared  to  get  upon  his  back.  Every  expe- 
dient was  tried,  without  success,  to  cure  him  of  the 
trick ;  and  the  laugh  was  so  much  indulged  against 
the  general's  corpulency,  that  he  found  it  convenient 
to  dispose  of  his  horse  to  a  young  officer  quitting  the 
settlement  for  a  distant  station  up  the  country.  Up- 
wards of  two  years  had  subsequently  elapsed,  when, 
in  the  execution  of  his  official  duties,  General  Pater 
left  Madras  to  inspect  one  of  the  frontier  cantonments. 
He  travelled,  as  is  the  usual  custom  in  India,  in  his 
palanqueen  (a  covered  couch  carried  on  men's  shoul- 
ders). The  morning  after  his  arrival  at  the  station, 
the  troops  were  drawn  out ;  and,  as  he  had  brought  no 
horses,  it  was  proper  to  provide  for  his  being  suitably 
mounted,  though  it  was  not  very  easy  to  find  a  charger 
adapted  to  his  weight.  At  length  an  officer  resigned 
to  him  a  powerful  horse  for  the  occasion,  which  was 
brought  out  duly  caparisoned  in  front  of  the  line. 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  41 

The  general  came  forth  from  his  tent,  and  proceeded 
to  mount ;  but  the  instant  the  horse  saw  him  advance, 
he  flung  himself  flat  upon  the  sand,  and  neither  blows 
nor  entreaties  could  induce  him  to  rise.  It  was  the 
general's  old  charger,  which,  from  the  moment  of 
quitting  his  service,  had  never  once  practised  the  arti- 
fice until  this  second  meeting.  The  general,  who  was 
an  exceedingly  good-humored  man,  joined  heartily  in 
the  universal  shout  that  ran  through  the  whole  line  on 
witnessing  this  ludicrous  affair. 

Courage  is  a  quality  of  great  importance  in  a  horse, 
and  some  possess  it  in  a  high  degree.  It  is  worthy, 
too,  of  remark,  that  there  is  often  something  more 
than  mere  natural  indifference  to  danger,  something  of 
an  intellectual  character  in  the  courage  of  the  horse. 
He  learns  to  overcome  his  fears.  At  the  sight  of  a 
tiger  a  horse  has  been  known  to  become  wholly  para- 
lysed with  terror,  and  incapable  of  resistance,  or  even 
of  flight ;  and  yet  this  instinctive  dread  of  mortal  foes 
can  be  eradicated  by  education,  and  a  reliance  on  the 
protection  of  man.  A  remarkable  proof  of  this  is, 
that  the  hunting  leopard  is  allowed  by  the  well-trained 
horse  to  spring  on  his  back,  either  behind  or  before 
his  master,  when  he  goes  a-field  in  pursuit  of  game. 
One  of  the  most  signal  instances  of  courage  on  the 
part  of  horse  and  rider,  and  of  perfect  concert  between 
both,  is  that  recorded  of  the  late  Sir  Robert  Gillespie 
and  his  Arab.  Sir  Robert  being  present  on  the  race- 


42  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

course  of  Calcutta  during  one  of  the  great  Hindoo 
festivals,  when  many  thousands  are  assembled  to 
witness  all  sorts  of  shows,  was  suddenly  alarmed  by 
the  shrieks  and  commotion  of  the  crowd.  On  being 
informed  that  a  tiger  had  escaped  from  his  keepers, 
he  immediately  called  for  his  horse,  and,  with  no 
other  weapon  than  a  boar-spear  snatched  from  one  of 
the  bystanders,  he  rode  to  attack  this  formidable 
enemy.  The  tiger  was  probably  amazed  at  finding 
himself  in  the  middle  of  such  a  number  of  shrieking 
beings  flying  from  him  in  all  directions  ;  but  the  mo- 
ment he  perceived  Sir  Robert,  he  crouched  in  the 
attitude  of  preparing  to  spring  upon  him ;  and  that 
instant  the  gallant  soldier  passed  his  horse  in  a  leap 
over  the  tiger's  back,  and  struck  the  spear  through  his 
spine.  It  was  a  feat  requiring  the  utmost  conceivable 
unity  of  purpose  and  movement  on  the  part  of  horse 
.and  rider,  almost  realizing  for  the  moment  the  fable 
of  the  centaur.  Had  either  swerved  or  wavered  for  a 
second,  both  had  been  lost.  But  the  brave  steed 
knew  his  rider.  The  animal  was  a  small  grey,  and 
was  afterwards  sent  home  as  a  present  to  the  Prince 
Regent. 

Sir  Robert  fell  subsequently  at  the  storming  of  Ka- 
lunga.  Another  horse  of  his,  a  favorite  black  charger, 
bred  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  and  carried  by  him 
to  India,  was,  at  the  sale  of  his  effects,  competed  for 
by  several  officers  of  his  division,  and  finally  knocked 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  43 

down  to  the  privates  of  the  8th  dragoons,  who  contri- 
buted their  prize  money,  to  the  amount  of  £500  ster- 
ling, to  retain  this  commemoration  of  their  late  com- 
mander. The  charger  was  always  led  at  the  head  of 
the  regiment  on  a  march,  and  at  the  station  of  Cawn- 
pore  was  usually  indulged  with  taking  his  ancient  post 
at  the  color  stand,  where  the  salute  of  passing  squa- 
drons was  given  at  drill  and  on  reviews.  When  the 
regiment  was  ordered  home,  the  funds  of  the  privates 
running  low,  he  was  bought  for  the  same  sum  by  a  gen- 
tleman, who  provided  funds  and  a  paddock  for  him, 
where  he  might  end  his  days  in  comfort ;  but  when 
the  corps  had  marched,  and  the  sound  of  the  trumpet 
had  departed,  he  refused  to  eat,  and  on  the  first  oppor- 
tunity, being  led  out  to  exercise,  he  broke  from  his 
groom,  and  galloping  to  his  ancient  station  on  the  pa- 
rade, after  neighing  aloud,  dropped  down  and  died. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  an  animal  endowed  in  so 
high  a  degree  as  the  horse  is  with  mental  and  moral 
faculties,  should  occasionally  be  subject,  like  man,  to 
derangement  of  these  faculties.  The  disordered  ac- 
tions, the  fury,  the  caprices,  and  the  vices  which  are 
sometimes  shown  by  the  brute,  are  in  the  highest  de- 
gree analogous  to  certain  forms  of  human  insanity. 
The  following  anecdotes  are  related  by  Mr.  Youatt, 
on  the  authority  of  Professor  Rodet,  of  Toulouse  : — 

A  horse,  seven  years  old,  was  remarkable  for  an 
habitual  air  of  stupidity,  and  a  peculiar  wandering 


44  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

expression  of  countenance.  When  he  saw  anything 
he  had  not  been  accustomed  to,  or  heard  any  sudden 
or  unusual  noise,  whether  it  was  near  or  at  a  distance, 
or  sometimes  when  his  corn  was  thrown  into  the 
manger  without  the  precaution  of  speaking  to  him  or 
patting  him,  he  was  frightened  to  an  almost  incredible 
degree  ;  he  recoiled  precipitately,  every  limb  trem- 
bled, and  he  struggled  violently  to  escape.  After 
several  useless  efforts  to  get  away,  he  would  work 
himself  into  the  very  highest  degree  of  rage,  so  that  it 
was  dangerous  to  approach  him.  This  state  of  excite- 
ment was  followed  by  dreadful  convulsions,  which  did 
not  cease  until  he  had  broken  his  halter,  or  otherwise 
freed  himself  from  his  trammels.  He  would  then  be- 
come calm,  and  suffer  himself  to  be  led  back  to  his 
stable,  nor  would  anything  more  be  seen  but  an  almost 
continual  uneasiness,  and  a  wandering  and  stupid  ex- 
pression of  countenance.  He  had  belonged  to  a  brutal 
soldier,  who  had  beaten  him  shamefully :  but  before 
he  fell  into  that  man's  hands  he  had  been  perfectly 
quiet  and  tractable. 

A  Piedmontese  officer  possessed  a  beautiful  mare, 
and  one  that  would  have  been  in  all  respects  service- 
able, but  for  a  peculiarity  that  rendered  her  exceed- 
ingly dangerous  :  that  was  a  decided  aversion  to 
paper,  which  she  recognized  the  moment  she  saw  it, 
and  even  in  the  dark,  if  two  leaves  were  rubbed  toge- 
ther. The  effect  produced  by  the  sight  or  sound  of  it 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  46 

was  so  prompt  and  violent,  that  she  several  times  un- 
horsed her  rider.  She  had  not  the  slightest  fear  of 
objects  that  would  terrify  most  horses.  She  regarded 
not  the  music  of  the  band,  the  whistling  of  the  balls, 
the  roaring  of  the  cannon,  the  fires  of  the  bivouacs,  or 
the  glittering  of  arms.  The  confusion  and  noise  of  an 
engagement  made  no  impression  on  her  ;  the  sight  of 
no  other  white  object  offended  her.  No  other  sound 
moved  her,  but  the  view  or  the  rustling  of  paper 
roused  her  to  madness. 

A  mare  was  perfectly  manageable,  and  betrayed  no 
antipathy  to  human  beings,  to  animals  of  other  kinds, 
or  to  horses,  except  they  were  of  a  light  grey  color ; 
but  the  moment  she  saw  a  light  grey  horse  she  rushed 
towards  it  and  attacked  it  with  the  greatest  fury.  It 
was  the  same  at  all  times  and  everywhere.  She  was 
all  that  could  be  wished  on  the  parade,  on  the  route,  in 
the  ranks,  in  action,  and  in  the  stable  ;  but  if  she  once 
caught  a  glimpse  of  a  grey  or  white  horse  she  rested 
not  until  she  had  thrown  her  rider  or  broken  her  halter, 
and  then  rushed  on  the  object  of  her  dislike  with  the 
utmost  fury.  She  generally  contrived  to  seize  the 
animal  by  the  head  or  throat,  and  held  him  so  fast  that 
she  would  suffocate  him,  if  he  were  not  promptly  re- 
leased from  her  bite. 

Another  mare  exhibited  no  dread  except  of  white 
inanimate  objects,  as  white  mantles  or  coats,  and  parti- 
cularly white  plumes.  She  would  fly  from  them  if  she 


46 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 


could ;  but  if  unable  to  accomplish  this,  she  would 
rush  fiercely  upon  them,  strike  at  them  with  her  fore- 
feet, and  tear  them  with  her  teeth. 

One  of  these  horses,  the  second,  was  by  long  and 
kind  attention  divested  of  its  insane  terror,  and  became 
perfectly  quiet  and  useful ;  but  the  other  three  bid  de- 
fiance to  all  means  of  cure,  and  to  coercion  amongst 
the  rest.  The  cases  of  all  four  were  as  decided  in- 
stances of  monomania,  or  insanity  confined  to  one  ob- 
ject, as  ever  were  exhibited  in  the  human  being 


CHAPTER  III. 

Vices,  and  disagreeable  or  dangerous  Habits. 

IN  the  last  chapter  we  gave  instances  of  mischievous 
propensities  directed  only  against  certain  kinds  of  ob- 
jects, and  displaying  all  the  characters  of  what  is 
called  monomania.  These  are  rare  cases ;  but  it  is 
not  uncommon  to  find  horses,  whom  no  jury  would 
pronounce  insane,  but  who  are  addicted  to  the  worst 
and  most  malevolent  practices,  such  as  kicking,  biting, 
and  plunging  without  provocation,  or  to  shying  and 
starting  from  mere  wantonness,  to  the  great  danger 
and  annoyance  of  their  riders.  These  and  other  vices 
are  partly  the  effect  of  a  naturally  bad  temper,  and 
partly  of  bad  education.  Horses,  for  instance,  that  are 
teased  by  the  thoughtless  play  of  grooms  and  stable 
boys,  will  begin  by  pretending  to  bite  or  kick  their 
tormentors  ;  by-and-by  they  will  do  so  in  earnest,  and 
at  last  the  habit  will  be  permanently  confirmed.  Al- 
most all  veterinary  surgeons  are  agreed  in  considering 
it  hopeless  to  attempt  the  cure  of  these  vices  when 
once  established.  Professor  Stewart  says,  "  I  have 


48  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

seen  biters  punished  until  they  trembled  in  every  joint 
and  were  ready  to  drop,  but  have  never  in  any  case 
known  them  to  be  cured  by  this  treatment,  or  by  any 
other.  The  lash  is  forgotten  in  an  hour,  and  the  horse 
is  as  ready  and  determined  to  repeat  the  offence  as 
before.  He  appears  unable  to  resist  the  temptation, 
and  in  its  worst  form  biting  is  a  species  of  insanity." 
But,  according  to  Burckhardt,  the  traveller,  there  is  a 
method  known  to  the  Egyptian  soldiery  for  curing  the 
propensity  to  bite,  and  practised  by  them  with  unfail- 
ing success.  They  roast  a  leg  of  mutton,  take  it  hot 
from  the  fire,  and  present  it  to  the  offending  animal. 
He  plunges  his  teeth  in  it,  they  stick  fast  in  the  hot 
meat,  and  the  pain  he  endures  makes  him  careful  for 
the  future  to  bite  at  nothing  but  his  lawful  food.  Mr. 
Morier  mentions  a  singular  method  he  saw  practised 
in  Persia,  to  subdue  the  temper  of  a  very  vicious  horse 
that  had  resisted  every  other  kind  of  treatment.  The 
horse  was  muzzled,  and  turned  loose  in  an  enclosure, 
there  to  await  the  attack  of  two  horses  whose  mouths 
and  limbs  were  at  liberty,  and  which  were  turned  in 
to  attack  him.  So  effectually  did  this  discipline  ope- 
rate that  he  became  completely  altered,  and  as  remark- 
able for  docility  as  he  had  previously  been  for  savage 
obstinacy. 

It  is  related,  we  know  not  on  what  authority,  that 
a  novel  kind  of  jockeyship  was  once  tried  with  tri- 
umphant success  in  one  of  those  cases  we  are  here 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  49 

speaking  of.  A  well-known  nobleman,  so  runs  the 
tale,  had  a  wild  horse  which  nobody  could  ride.  "  I 
know  not  what  your  lordship  can  do  with  him,"  said 
some  one,  "  but  to  set  the  monkey  on  his  back."  So 
they  put  a  pad  on  the  horse,  and  clapped  the  monkey 
upon  it  with  a  switch  in  his  hand,  wherewith  he  be- 
labored the  horse,  and  set  him  into  a  furious  kicking 
and  galloping,  but  pug  still  kept  his  seat.  The  horse 
lay  down  on  the  ground ;  but  when  he  threw  himself 
on  one  side,  the  monkey  was  upon  the  other.  He  ran 
into  a  wood  to  brush  his  rider  off ;  but  the  monkey 
dodged  from  side  to  side  so  as  to  avoid  every  tree  and 
bush,  until  at  last  the  horse  was  so  sickened  and 
fatigued  and  broken  spirited,  that  he  ran  home  to 
the  stable  for  protection.  When  the  monkey  was  re- 
moved, a  boy  was  put  in  his  place,  and  managed  the 
horse  with  ease.  The  animal  never  gave  any  trouble 
afterwards. 

Old  books  of  farriery  mention  a  plan  for  taming 
intractable  horses,  which,  we  believe,  has  gone  out  of 
fashion  only  on  account  of  the  trouble  attending  it. 
We  should  be  glad  to  see  it  revived,  for  we  are  in- 
clined to  think  it  would  be  attended  with  very  good 
results.  The  horse  was  tethered  in  his  stall,  with  his 
tail  to  the  manger,  prevented  from  lying  down,  and 
kept  without  food  or  sleep  for  forty-eight  hours  or 
more  ;  men,  who  relieved  each  other  by  turns,  being 
stationed  at  his  head  to  rouse  him  whenever  he  began 


50  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

to  doze.  This  method  was  the  same  in  principle  as 
that  by  which  falconers  used  to  tame  their  hawks  ; 
and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  discipline  which 
could  subdue  those  savage  and  impetuous  birds,  would 
have  been  no  less  efficacious  in  bringing  down  the 
unruly  temper  of  the  more  generous  quadruped. 

We  have  now  to  speak  of  certain  horse-taming 
exploits,  which  have  in  them  a  strong  tincture  of  the 
marvellous,  but  which  are  nevertheless,  authenticated 
by  undeniable  evidence. 

At  the  Spring  meeting  of  1804,  Mr.  Whalley's 
horse,  King  Pippin,  was  brought  on  the  Curragh  of 
Kildare  to  run.  He  was  a  horse  of  the  most  strangely 
savage  and  vicious  disposition.  His  particular  pro- 
pensity was  that  of  flying  at  and  worrying  any  person 
who  came  within  his  reach  ;  and,  if  he  had  an  oppor- 
tunity, he  would  turn  his  head  round,  seize  his  rider 
by  the  leg  with  his  teeth,  and  drag  him  down  from 
his  back.  For  this  reason  he  was  always  ridden  with 
what  is  called  a  sword ;  this  is  a  strong,  flat  stick, 
having  one  end  attached  to  the  check  of  the  bridle, 
and  the  other  to  the  girth  of  the  saddle — a  contrivance 
to  prevent  a  horse  of  this  kind  from  getting  at  his 
rider. 

King  Pippin  had  long  been  difficult  to  manage,  and 
dangerous  to  go  near  ;  but  on  the  occasion  in  question, 
he  could  not  be  got  to  run  at  all :  nobody  could  put 
the  bridle  on  his  head.  There  was  a  large  concourse 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  51 

of  people  assembled  on  the  Curragh  ;  and  one  coun- 
tryman, more  fearless  than  the  rest  of  the  lookers  on, 
volunteered  his  services  to  bridle  the  horse.  No 
sooner  had  he  commenced  operations,  than  King 
Pippin  seized  him  somewhere  about  the  shoulders, 
and  shook  him  as  a  dog  does  a  rat.  Fortunately  for 
the  poor  fellow  his  body  was  very  thickly  covered  with 
clothes,  for  on  such  holiday  occasions  an  Irishman  of 
his  class  is  fond  of  displaying  his  wardrobe,  and  if  he 
has  three  coats  in  the  world,  he  is  sure  to  put  them  all 
on.  Owing  to  this  circumstance,  the  horse  never 
fairly  got  hold  of  his  skin,  and  the  man  escaped  with 
little  injury,  except  the  rent  and  ruined  condition  of  his 
holiday  attire. 

The  WHISPERER  was  now  sent  for.  This  myste- 
rious horse-tamer  soon  arrived,  was  shut  up  with  the 
horse  all  night,  and  in  the  morning  exhibited  the 
hitherto  ferocious  animal  following  him  about  the 
course  like  a  dog — lying  down  at  his  command — suf- 
fering his  mouth  to  be  opened,  and  any  person's  hand 
to  be  introduced  into  it — in  short,  as  quiet  almost  as  a 
sheep.  He  came  out  the  same  meeting  and  won  his 
race,  and  his  docility  continued  satisfactory  for  a  con- 
siderable period  j^but  at  the  end  of  three  years  his 
vice  returned,  and  then  he  is  said  to  have  killed  a  man, 
for  which  he  was  destroyed. 

The  man  who  effected  the  wonder  we  have  just 
recounted  was  an  awkward,  ignorant  rustic  of  the 


52  THE    HORSE   AND    HIS   RIDER. 

lowest  class,  of  the  name  of  Sullivan,  but  better 
known  by  the  appellation  of  the  Whisperer.  His 
occupation  was  horse-breaking.  The  nickname  he 
acquired  from  the  vulgar  notion  of  his  being  able  to 
communicate  to  the  animal  what  he  wished  by  means 
of  a  whisper;  and  the  singularity  of  his  method 
seemed  in  some  degree  to  justify  the  supposition. 
How  his  art  was  acquired,  or  in  what  it  consisted,  he 
never  disclosed.  He  died  about  1810.  His  son,  who 
followed  him  in  the  same  trade,  possessed  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  art,  having  either  never  learned  the  true 
secret,  or  being  incapable  of  putting  it  into  practice. 
The  wonder  of  his  skill  consisted  in  the  celerity  of  the 
operation,  which  was  performed  in  privacy,  without 
any  apparent  means  of  coercion  :  every  description 
of  horse  or  even  mule,  whether  previously  broken  or 
unhandled,  whatever  their  peculiar  habits  or  vices 
might  have  been,  submitted  withbut  a  show  of  resist- 
ance to  his  magical  influence,  and  in  the  short  space 
of  an  hour  became  gentle  and  tractable.  This  effect, 
though  instantaneously  produced,  was  generally  du- 
rable. Though  more  submissive  to  him  than  to 
others,  the  animals  seemed  to  have  acquired  a  docility 
unknown  before. 

When  sent  for  to  tame  a  vicious  beast,  for  whicli 
he  was  either  paid  according  to  the  distance,  or  gene- 
rally two  or  three  guineas,  he  directed  the  stable,  in 
which  he  and  the  object  of  the  experiment  were,  to 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  53 

be  shut,  with  orders  not  to  open  the  door  until  a 
signal  was  given.  After  a  tete-a-tete  of  about  half 
an  hour,  during  which  little  or  no  bustle  was  heard, 
the  signal  was  made,  and  upon  opening  the  door,  the 
horse  appeared  lying  down,  and  the  man  by  his  side 
playing  with  him  like  a  child  with  a  puppy  dog. 
From  that  time  he  was  found  perfectly  willing  to 
submit  to  any  discipline,  however  repugnant  to  his 
nature  before. 

Mr.  Croker,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  this  ac- 
count, once  saw  this  man's  skill  tried  on  a  horse  which 
could  never  before  be  brought  to  stand  still  for  a  smith 
to  shoe  him.  "  The  day  after  Sullivan's  half  hour's 
lecture,"  he  says,  "  I  went,  not  without  some  incredu- 
lity, to  the  smith's  shop,  with  many  other  curious 
spectators,  where  we  were  witnesses  of  the  complete 
success  of  his  art.  This,  too,  had  been  a  troop  horse, 
and  it  was  supposed,  not  without  reason,  that  after 
regimental  discipline  had  failed,  no  other  would  be 
found  availing.  I  observed  that  the  animal  appeared 
terrified  whenever  Sullivan  either  spoke  to  or  looked  at 
him  :  how  that  extraordinary  ascendency  could  have 
been  obtained  it  is  difficult  to  conjecture. 

"  In  common  cases  this  mysterious  preparation  was 
unnecessary.  He  seemed  to  possess  an  instinctive 
power  of  inspiring  awe,  the  result,  perhaps,  of  natural 
intrepidity,  in  which,  I  believe,  a  great  part  of  his  art 
consisted :  though  the  circumstance  of  the  tete-a-tete 


54  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

shows  that,  on  particular  occasions,  something  more 
must  have  been  added  to  it.  A  faculty  like  this  would 
in  some  hands  have  made  a  fortune,  and  I  understand 
that  great  offers  were  made  to  him  for  the  exercise  of 
his  art  abroad.  But  hunting  was  his  passion :  he 
lived  at  home  in  the  style  most  agreeable  to  his  dispo- 
sition, and  nothing  could  induce  him  to  quit  Duhallow 
and  the  fox-hounds." 

We  have  been  told  by  a  merchant  long  resident  in 
Mexico,  that  it  is  a  common  practice  in  that  country  to 
tame  the  most  violent  horses  by  a  very  simple  but 
singular  method,  namely,  by  putting  the  horse's  nos- 
trils under  a  man's  armpit.  Our  informant  assures  us 
that  the  most  refractory  brute  instantly  becomes  trac- 
table on  inhaling  the  odor  of  the  human  body.  This 
strange  statement  is  corroborated  by  a  fact  first  made 
known  by  Mr.  Catlin,  and  both  together  may  perhaps 
afford  a  clue  to  the  mystery  of  the  Whisperer's  pro- 
ceedings. Mr.  Catlin  tells  us,  that  when  an  Indian  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  runs  down  and  nooses  a  wild 
horse,  one  of  his  first  steps  is  to  place  his  hand  over 
the  eyes  of  the  struggling  animal,  and  breathe  into  his 
nostrils,  when  it  soon  becomes  docile,  and  is  so  com- 
pletly  conquered  that  it  submits  quietly  ever  after. 

Mr.  Ellis,  a  gentleman  of  Cambridge,  happened  to 
read  Mr.  Catlin's  statement,  and  felt  a  natural  desire 
to  ascertain  how  far  this  mode  of  horse-taming  might 
be  employed  among  British  horses.  He  tried  the 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  65 

experiment  on  a  filly  not  a  year  old,  that  had  been  re- 
moved from  her  dam  three  months  before,  and  since 
that  time  had  not  been  out  of  the  stable ;  he  tried  it, 
too,  under  manifest  disadvantage,  for  the  filly,  which 
was  quite  wild,  was  in  the  open  air,  with  several  strang- 
ers about  her,  and  both  the  owner  and  the  amateur 
were  rather  seeking  amusement  from  the  failure,  than 
knowledge  from  the  success  of  their  experiment.  It 
was  with  great  difficulty  Mr.  Ellis  managed  to  cover 
the  eyes  of  the  restive  and  frightened  animal.  At 
length  he  succeeded,  and  blew  into  her  nostrils.  No 
particular  effect  seemed  to  follow.  He  then  breathed 
into  her  nostrils,  and  the  moment  he  did  so  the  filly  at 
once  desisted  from  her  violent  struggles,  stood  still  and 
trembled.  From  that  time  she  became  very  tractable. 
Another  gentleman  also  breathed  into  her  nostrils,  and 
she  evidently  enjoyed  it,  and  kept  putting  up  her  nose 
to  receive  the  breath.  On  the  following  morning  she 
was  led  out  again.  She  was  perfectly  tractable,  and 
it  seemed  almost  impossible  to  frighten  her. 

Shying  is  a  very  troublesome  vice,  and  is  only  to  be 
overcome  by  a  rider  of  great  firmness  and  good  tem- 
per. Blows  will  scarcely  ever  cure  vicious  habits 
originating  in  fear ;  they  will  only  increase  them,  for 
the  horse  will  be  possessed  with  the  dread  of  two  evils 
instead  of  one ;  viz.,  the  object  itself  from  which  he 
starts  away,  and  the  punishment  that  is  to  follow. 
Sometimes  his  shying  is  the  consequence  of  defective 


56  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

sight ;  and  then  he  must  be  taught  to  rely  on  his  rider, 
and  to  learn  from  him  that  the  object  of  his  terror  is 
not  at  all  formidable.  The  tone  of  the  voice,  half 
chiding,  half  encouraging,  and  a  gentle  pressure  of 
the  heel,  will  be  perfectly  understood  by  the  animal, 
and  he  will  soon  come  to  trust  his  rider's  judgment : 
on  the  other  hand,  if  the  latter  show  any  symptoms  of 
timidity,  they  will  be  instantly  detected  by  the  horse, 
and  the  mischief  will  be  greatly  aggravated.  In  other 
cases  the  vice  proceeds  from  skittishness  or  affectation, 
and  must  be  differently  dealt  with.  "  Horses,"  says 
Mr.  Lawrence,  "generally  fix  on  some  particular  shying 
butt ;  for  example,  I  recollect  having  at  different  periods, 
three  hacks,  all  very  powerful :  the  one  made  choice 
of  a  windmill  for  the  object  or  butt  ;  the  second  a 
tilted  wagon ;  and  the  third  a  pig  led  in  a  string.  It 
so  happened,  however,  that  I  rode  the  two  former  when 
amiss  from  a  violent  cold ;  and  they  then  paid  no  more 
attention  to  either  windmills  or  tilted  wagons,  than  to 
any  other  objects,  convincing  me  that  their  shying, 
when  in  health  and  spirits,  was  pure  affectation  ;  an 
affectation,  however,  which  may  be  speedily  united 
with  obstinacy  and  vice.  Let  it  be  treated  with  mark- 
ed displeasure,  mingled  with  gentle  but  decided  firm- 
ness, and  the  habit  will  be  of  short  endurance." 

Mr.  Elaine  once  purchased  a  horse  with  an  excellent 
character  for  steadiness,  except  that  he  was  always 
much  alarmed  at  a  passing  carriage,  whether  it  was 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  57 

coming  towards  or  overtaking  him.  A  tilted  wagon  or 
a  stage-coach  were  such  objects  of  dread  as  no  power 
could  get  him  to  face.  "  We  knew  it  would  be  in  vain 
to  oppose  human  physical  force  to  brute  fears,  and  that 
it  was  only  by  introducing  favorable  recollections 
derived  from  those  very  objects,  greater  in  degree  than 
the  fears  hitherto  entertained  of  them,  that  we  could 
conquer  this  dangerous  propensity.  We  began  by 
leading  the  horse,  previously  exercised  and  fasted, 
towards  a  cart  filled  with  clover  hay  ;  the  smell  of  the 
hay  was  irresistible,  and  soon  dissipated  all  dread  of 
the  stationary  cart ;  but  when  it  was  purposely  moved 
gently  onwards,  he  became  rather  discomposed ;  a  lit- 
tle coaxing,  however,  induced  him  to  follow  it,  and  we 
had  the  pleasure,  at  this  his  first  lesson,  of  seeing  him 
proceed  confidently  with  the  cart  round  a  farm-yard, 
and  finally  into  the  road.  To  vary  the  effect,  after  he 
had  steadily  walked  by  the  side  of  the  carriage  a  cer- 
tain time,  we  restrained  him  so  that  it  got  ahead  of 
him  ;  when  he  again  reached  it,  slight  indications  of 
fear  appeared,  as  he  had  to  make  his  way  up  to  the 
side  of  the  cart,  for  we  had  a  coverlet  purposely  drawn 
over  the  back  that  he  might  not  reach  the  hay  from  be- 
hind. We  next  passed  the  cart  altogether,  but  it  was 
a  few  paces  only,  and  then  turned  him  round  to  the 
other  side  of  it ;  but  his  whole  mind  was  so  intent  on 
the  clover,  that  with  the  most  trifling  symptoms  only 
of  alarm,  he  fell  to  again  on  the  hay,  which  finished 
4* 


58  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

lesson  the  first.  Our  next  attempt  was  with  a  sieve, 
full  of  corn  (presented  to  him  on  an  empty  stomach), 
which  he  could  only  reach  from  the  tailboard  of  a  tilted 
wagon — an  awful  object !  After  a  few  snortings  and 
sniffings,  here  also  hunger  overcame  his  fears,  and  he 
munched  the  oats  with  great  relish ;  but  when  the 
wagon  was  put  in  motion,  his  dread  for  a  little  time  got 
the  better  of  his  appetite,  and  the  flapping  of  the  coyer- 
ing  of  the  tilt  appeared  to  him  most  portentous  :  his 
fears  even  in  this  case,  however,  soon  gave  place  to 
confidence,  through  the  skilfulness  of  a  groom  to 
whom  he  was  much  attached.  This  man  mounted 
the  wagon,  and,  resting  on  the  tailboard,  offered  the 
oats  to  the  horse,  at  the  same  time  calling  and  encour- 
aging him.  This  worked  wonders  ;  nor  shall  we 
readily  forget  the  knucker  of  acknowledgment  with 
which  the  confiding  brute  followed  the  groom's  call  as 
the  wagon  moved  on,  occasionally  dipping  his  nose  into 
the  sieve.  After  a  few  more  lessons  of  a  similar  kind, 
one  or  two  of  which  were  varied  by  giving  him  hay 
from  the  window  of  a  stage-coach,  he  lost  all  fear  of 
carriages,  and  his  former  owner  would  willingly  have 
taken  him  back  at  a  very  considerable  increase  of 
price." 

The  stomach  was  long  ago  discovered  to  be  an  ex- 
cellent medium  of  education  ;  its  lessons,  aided  by 
habit,  are  infallible.  Here  is  another  example  of  this 
truth  : — Mr.  Grant,  a  merchant  of  London,  asked  a 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  59 

friend  if  he  knew  of  a  saddle  nag  for  sale  ;  the  other 
replied,  that  he  himself  had  one  to  dispose  of,  which 
he  could  recommend  were  it  not  for  his  unconquerable 
dread  of  swine,  which  rendered  him  dangerous  either 
to  ride  or  drive,  and  on  which  account  alone  he  must 
part  with  him.  Mr.  Grant  was  not  a  person  to  be  dis- 
mayed  at  trifles  ;  and  being  convinced  he  could  remedy 
this  evil,  he  bought  the  horse,  and  set  about  his  cure 
by  purchasing  a  sow  and  a  large  litter  of  pigs.  The 
horse,  sow,  and  pigs,  were  all  turned  together  into  a 
sort  of  barn  stable,  where  they  were  never  disturbed 
except  to  give  them  food.  The  snortings,  kickings, 
squeakings  and  gruntings,  were,  for  two  or  three  days, 
great  and  continual,  and  the  consequence  was,  that 
three  or  four  of  the  younglings  were  demolished  ;  but 
gradually  the  uproar  ceased,  and  in  a  fortnight's  time 
the  lady  mother  was  to  be  seen  under  the  belly  of  the 
horse,  busily  employed  in  searching  for  the  grains  of 
corn  left  in  the  straw,  with  her  progeny  as  actively  en- 
gaged around  her.  Well  might  White,  in  his  "  Natural 
History  of  Selbourne,"  remark,  that  "  interest  makes 
strange  friendships." 

With  respect  to  the  proper  mode  of  administering 
punishment  in  these  cases,  we  will  adduce  another 
example  from  Mr.  Elaine  :  "  At  Harlow  Bush  Fair  we 
were  struck  with  the  appearance  of  a  likely  nag  ;  but 
as  we  saw  our  salesman  was  evidently  one  of  a  sus- 
picious order,  we  squared  our  expectations  accordingly  ; 


e/. 

60  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

and  after  having  cheapened  the  nag  to  a  very  low  price, 
considering  his  figure,  we  bought  him,  after  such  a 
trial  as  this  sort  of  places  afford,  and  this  sort  of 
persons  allow.  On  the  next  day  we  mounted  our 
purchase,  and  proceeded  five  or  six  miles  on  the  Hert 
fordshire  road,  the  horse  performing  well  in  all  his 
paces,  riding  to  a  good  mouth,  and  being  apparently  as 
tractable  as  one  could  wish.  We  were,  however,  still 
aware  that  either  he  must  have  been  stolen,  or  that, 
according  to  stable  slang,  '  a  screw  was  loose'  some 
where,  which  would  soon  jingle, — and  a  turnpike-gale 
was  to  unfold  the  secret ;  for  this  gate  he  would  not 
go  through,  not  from  any  fear  of  the  gate  itself,  but 
from  mere  restiveness.  We  battled  it  with  him  for 
some  time,  but  it  was  to  no  purpose,  and  we  were  too 
well  acquainted  with  horses  to  push  matters  to  extremi- 
ties ;  for  even  had  we  forced  him  through  at  this  time, 
he  would,  without  doubt,  have  repeated  the  same  trick 
whenever  the  same  spirit  moved  him.  A  radical  cure 
was  our  object,  and  so  we  refrained  from  any  further 
attempts  to  force  him.  onwards,  but,  placing  his  head 
under  the  wall  of  the  toll-house  bar,  we  sat  quietly  on 
his  back  an  hour.  We  then  tried  to  pass  him  through 
the  gate  ;  but  as  his  determination  appeared  to  remain 
in  full  force,  we  gave  him  another  hour  of  stationary 
riding,  during  which  he  was  evidently  very  uneasy  and 
oppressed  with  the  weight  he  carried,  unrelieved  as  he 
was  by  any  change  of  position  or  any  locomotion.  At 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  61 

the  end  of  the  second  hour  we  believe  we  might  have 
forced  him  through,  as  his  resistances  were  now  fee- 
ble ;  but  as  they  yet  evidently  existed,  we  gave  him 
another  half  hour  of  waiting,  and  then  he  went  through 
the  gate  as  tractably  as  any  horse  could  do.  We  did 
not  let  the  matter  rest  here,  but  rode  him  fully  ten  or 
twelve  miles  further  than  we  had  intended,  purposely  to 
give  him  notice  that  implicit  obedience  would  be  exact- 
ed of  him  in  future,  on  pain  of  a  punishment  not  at  all 
to  his  taste.  He  never  afterwards  showed  the  smallest 
disposition  to  rebel,  although,  as  we  learned  subse- 
quently, he  had,  several  times  before  coming  into  our 
possession,  been  passed  from  hand  to  hand  in  the 
Rothings  of  Essex,  as  utterly  incorrigible." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Speed  and  Endurance — Carnivorous  Horses — Horse  Flesh  as  Food 
— Horse  Baiting. 

THE  maximum  speed  of  the  racehorse  appears  to  be 
at  the  rate  of  a  mile  in  a  minute  ;  for  few,  if  any, 
horses  can  retain  the  full  velocity  of  this  rate  for  even 
that  time.  A  mile  has,  however,  been  run  at  New- 
market by  a  stop-watch  in  one  minute  and  four  and  a 
half  seconds.  It  is  said,  but  never  was  proved,  that 
Flying  Childers  did  run  at  Newmarket  one  mile  in  the 
minute  ;  certain  it  is  that  this  celebrated  horse,  when 
carrying  nine  stone  two  pounds,  ran  over  the  round 
course,  which  is  three  miles,  six  furlongs,  and  ninety- 
three  yards,  in  six  minutes  and  forty  seconds.  Bay 
Melton  ran  four  miles  at  York,  in  1763,  in  seven 
minutes  forty-three  seconds  and  a  half.  Eclipse  also 
ran  the  same  distance,  on  the  same  course,  in  eight 
minutes  with  twelve  stone.  The  most  extraordinary 
instance  on  record  of  the  stoutness  as  well  as  speed 
of  the  racehorse  was  displayed  in  1786,  when  Mr. 
HuelTs  Quibbler  ran  twenty-three  miles  round  the  flat 
at  Newmarket  in  fifty-seven  minutes  and  ten  seconds. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  63 

The  speed  of  the  greyhound,  and  that  of  the  hare,  is 
but  little  inferior  to  that  of  the  racehorse,  but  their 
powers  of  endurance  at  their  utmost  velocity  are  not 
equal  to  his. 

The  racing  gallop  is  evidently  but  a  succession  of 
leaps,  in  which  the  fore-legs  and  the  hind-legs  start  in 
pairs,  each  pair  acting  simultaneously.  The  hand- 
gallop  is  not  so  rapid  a  movement,  in  it  the  right  legs 
are  a  little  in  advance  of  their  fellows.  It  is  well 
ascertained  that  a  horse  can  never  pass  at  once  from  a 
state  of  rest  into  the  gallop  of  full  speed,  but  must 
begin  with  the  hand-gallop  ;  and  cunning  jockeys 
sometimes  derive  profit  from  this  circumstance  by 
wagering  with  the  unwary,  that  no  horse  shall  be 
found  to  gallop  one  hundred  yards  while  a  man  runs 
fifty,  the  two  starting  together.  In  this  case  the 
man  is  sure  to  win  the  race,  for  the  horse  has  not 
time  enough  to  acquire  the  necessary  momentum,  as 
he  would  do  if  the  race  were  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
yards. 

The  following  account  of  a  fearful  race  between  a 
steam  engine  and  a  mare  is  extracted  from  a  number 
of  the  Ipswich  Express,  for  January,  1846: — "An 
occurrence,  approaching  the  wonderful  in  its  nature, 
took  place  on  the  Colchester  end  of  the  Eastern 
Counties  Railway,  early  on  the  morning  of  Sunday 
the  4th  instant.  A  mare,  the  property  of  Mr.  Garrad, 
whose  farm  adjoins  the  railway  and  its  Colchester 


64  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

terminus,  had  obtained  access  to  the  line  in  the  course 
of  the  night,  and  ran  off  in  front  of  the  engine  when 
the  mail  train  started  from  Colchester  at  a  quarter 
before  three  o'clock.  It  being  quite  dark,  the  animal 
was  not  at  first  observed  by  the  engine-driver ;  but 
after  the  train  had  proceeded  a  short  distance,  and  a 
smart  speed  was  attained,  the  mare  was  seen  ahead 
of  the  engine,  between  the  up-line  of  rails,  going 
along  at  a  rate  which  seemed  likely  to  test  the  power 
of  the  locomotive.  The  driver  sounded  the  whistle, 
in  the  hope  of  frightening  the  mare  from  the  line  ;  but 
this  only  served  to  quicken  her  speed  without  divert- 
ing her  course  ;  on  she  went  like  the  wind,  with  the 
engine  and  train  puffing,  clattering,  and  groaning,  in 
her  rear  :  so  desperate  was  her  pace,  that  though  the 
speed  of  the  train  had  reached  twenty-five  miles  an 
hour,  the  driver  and  stoker  frequently  lost  sight  of 
her  in  the  gloom,  and  at  first  supposed  the  train  had 
passed  her,  but  ever  and  anon  she  was  again  caught 
sight  of,  still  rushing  along  in  the  course  of  the  en- 
gine ;  and  the  screaming  whistle,  which  was  now 
blown  repeatedly,  acting  on  the  terrified  mare  more 
powerfully  than  the  combination  of  spur,  whip,  and 
voice,  drove  her  madly  forward  far  ahead  of  the  iron 
monster.  What  would  have  been  the  issue  of  this 
strange  race  had  it  continued  much  longer  it  is  not 
difficult  to  surmise ;  the  mare's  spirit  was  good,  but 
what  in  the  long  run  can  flesh  and  blood  do  against 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  65 

the  giant  power  of  steam  ?  As  it  was,  she  gallantly 
kept  ahead  for  full  five  miles,  when  just  as  the  flying 
pursuer  reached  the  Mark's  Tey  bridge,  the  poor 
animal  caught  her  foot  against  a  stone  or  part  of  the 
rail,  and  rolled  headlong  on  to  the  down-line.  The  en- 
gine, with  a  parting  shriek  and  puff,  passed  on  ;  and 
the  mare  was  found,  when  daylight  appeared,  nothing 
the  worse  for  her  race  and  tumble,  and  in  due  time 
was  restored  to  her  owner." 

It  is  not  certain  that  a  trotting  speed  of  twenty 
miles  an  hour  has  ever  been  attained,  but  the  distance 
has  been  done  in  six  seconds  over  that  time.  Pheno- 
menon, a  mare  belonging  to  Sir  Edward  Aslley,  when 
twelve  years  old,  trotted  seventeen  miles  in  fifty-six 
minutes,  and  performed  the  same  distance  a  month 
afterwards  in  less  than  fifty-three  minutes ;  that  is 
to  say,  at  the  rate  of  more  than  twenty-one  and  a 
half  miles  per  hour.  The  American  horses  are 
celebrated  for  their  trotting.  In  general  they  are 
not  ridden,  but  driven,  and  that  in  a  peculiar  manner. 
The  driver  leans  back  in  his  seat  and  keeps  up  a 
steady  pull  on  the  reins  ;  as  long  as  this  continues 
the  horse  runs,  but  stops  the  moment  the  reins  are 
relaxed.  Tom  Thumb,  a  celebrated  American  horse 
belonging  to  Mr.  Osbaldiston,  was  matched  in  1829 
to  perform  the  wonderful  feat  of  trotting  a  hundred 
miles  in  harness  in  ten  and  a  half  successive  hours. 
The  vehicle  did  not  weigh  more  than  one  hundred 


66  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

pounds,  nor  the  driver  more  than  ten  stone  three 
pounds.  The  gallant  little  horse,  which  was  but 
fourteen  hands  high,  completed  the  task  in  ten  hours 
and  seven  minutes ;  twenty-three  minutes  within  the 
allotted  time,  without  being  in  the  smallest  degree 
distressed. 

It  used  to  be  thought  that  no  horse  could  in  fair 
walking  contend  with  a  man,  who  was  a  first-rate 
pedestrian ;  but  the  opinion  was  refuted  by  the  per- 
formance of  a  hackney  named  Sloven,  that,  in  1791, 
beat  a  celebrated  pedestrian  by  walking  twenty  miles 
in  three  hours  and  forty-one  minutes.  Two  years 
afterwards  the  same  animal  walked  twenty-two  miles 
in  three  hours  and  fifty-two  minutes. 

The  preceding  statements  are  sufficient  to  display 
the  absolute  powers  of  the  horse  ;  let  us  now  consider 
what  can  be  done  by  horse  and  man.  Wonderful 
things  are  related  of  the  Tartar  couriers,  who  used  to 
ride  from  one  end  of  the  Turkish  empire  to  the  other 
in  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time,  with  a  pacha's 
head  dangling  at  their  saddle  bow  ;  but  we  have  had 
European  couriers  whose  feats  were  not  less  aston- 
ishing and  better  authenticated.  In  the  days  when 
as  yet  railroads  were  not,  government  expresses  that 
required  great  dispatch  used  to  be  carried  by  men  on 
horseback,  though  ordinary  messengers  usually  tra- 
velled in  carriages.  Relays  of  horses  were  kept 
ready  for  the  courier  all  along  the  road ;  a  postillion 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  67 

accompanied  him  from  station  to  station,  and  he  con- 
tinued his  journey  day  and  night  without  halting  ex- 
cept to  take  a  fresh  horse.  He  ate  and  drank  in  the 
saddle,  slept  in  the  saddle,  leaning  forward  on  a 
cushion  strapped  to  the  high-peaked  pummel,  and 
was  lifted,  saddle  and  all,  from  the  back  of  one  horse 
to  another's  ;  for  the  attempt  to  mount  and  dismount, 
after  his  heated  limbs  had  been  long  fixed  in  one 
posture,  would  have  speedily  disabled  him.  The 
postillion  who  galloped  beside  him  looked  to  his 
safety  when  he  slept,  and  took  charge  of  his  horse. 
In  this  way  couriers  with  despatches  for  London  from 
Vienna,  have  ridden  from  the  latter  capital  to  Calais, 
without  stopping,  the  distance  being  about  nine 
hundred  miles. 

In  1763,  a  Mr.  Shafto  won  a  match  which  was 
to  provide  a  person  who  should  ride  one  hundred 
miles  a  day,  on  any  one  horse  each  day,  for  twenty- 
nine  days  together,  and  to  have  any  number  of 
horses  not  exceeding  twenty-nine.  The  jockey 
accomplished  the  task  with  fourteen  horses,  and  on 
one  day  rode  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  on  account 
of  the  tiring  of  his  first  horse.  The  celebrated 
Lafayette  rode  in  August,  1778,  from  Rhode  Island 
to  Boston,  a  distance  of  nearly  seventy  miles  in  seven 
hours,  and  returned  in  six  hours  and  half. 

One  of  the  most  extraordinary  feats  in  the  way 
of  express  riding  performed  in  modern  times  was 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

that  of  a  boy  of  fifteen,  Frederic  Tyler,  who  con- 
veyed, from  Montgomery  to  Mobile,  the  news  of  the 
two  days'  battle,  fought  between  the  armies  of  the 
United  States  and  Mexico  in  the  summer  of  1846. 
The  distance,  one  hundred  and  ninety  miles,  was 
accomplished  in  thirteen  hours ;  and  during  the 
entire  night  the  boy  caught  and  saddled  his  horses, 
none  of  which  were  in  readiness,  as  he  was  not  looked 
for  by  those  who  had  the  horses  in  charge. 

A  bet  against  time  was  won  in  July,  1840,  by  an 
Arab  horse  at  Bungalore,  in  the  presidency  of 
Madras,  to  run  four  hundred  miles  in  four  con- 
secutive days.  Mr.  Frazer  relates,  in  his  "  Tartar 
Journeys,"  a  still  more  striking  instance  of  the  speed 
and  bottom  of  the  Arab  :  a  horse  of  that  breed  car- 
ried him  from  Shiraz  to  Teheran,  five  hundred  and 
twenty-two  miles  in  six  days,  remained  three  at  rest, 
went  back  in  five  days,  remained  nine  at  Shiraz,  and 
returned  again  to  Teheran  in  seven  days.  Another 
high-blooded  Arabian  carried  Mr.  Frazer  from  Tehe- 
ran to  Koom,  eighty-four  miles,  in  about  ten  hours. 
A  courier,  whom  Major  Keppel  fell  in  with  between 
Kermanshaw  and  Hamadan,  places  one  hundred  and 
twenty  miles'  distance  from  each  other,  performed  that 
journey,  over  a  rugged  mountainous  tract,  in  little 
more  than  twenty-four  hours;  and  the  next  morn- 
ing set  off  on  the  same  horse  for  Teheran,  two  hun- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  69 

died   miles    further,   expecting    to    reach   it  on  the 
second  day. 

It  is,  of  course,  among  the  wild  races  inhabiting 
vast  level  tracts,  such  as  are  suitable  to  the  habits  and 
constitution  of  the  horse,  that  the  power  of  holding 
out  long  in  the  saddle  is  most  assiduously  and  most 
generally  cultivated.  There  are  tribes  and  nations 
who  may  be  said  to  spend  the  greater  part  of  their 
lives  on  horseback  : — the  Kirghis,  for  instance,  in  Cen- 
tral Asia ;  the  Guachos,  or  countryfolk  of  European 
descent,  who  inhabit  the  immense  Pampas,  or  plains 
of  South  America ;  and,  in  a  still  higher  degree,  the 
Indians  of  the  same  regions.  The  Pampas,  though 
fertile,  are  totally  uncultivated,  and  yield  the  scattered 
inhabitants  no  other  nourishment  than  water,  and  the 
flesh  of  the  unappropriated  herds  of  cattle  and  horses 
that  roam  over  them  in  countless  multitudes.  Their 
hardy  inhabitants  are  thus  portrayed  by  Sir  Francis 
Head  :— 

"  The  life  of  the  Guacho  is  very  interesting.  Born 
in  the  rude  hut,  the  infant  receives  little  attention,  but 
is  left  to  swing  from  the  roof  in  a  bullock's  hide, 
the  corners  of  which  are  drawn  towards  each  other  by 
four  strips  of  hide.  In  the  first  year  of  his  life  he 
crawls  about  without  clothes,  and  I  have  more  than 
once  seen  a  mother  give  a  child  of  this  age  a  sharp 
knife,  a  foot  long,  to  play  with.  As  soon  as  he  walks, 
his  infantine  amusements  are  those  which  prepare  him 


70  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

for  the  occupations  of  his  future  life  :  with  a  lasso 
made  of  twine  he  tries  to  catch  little  birds  or  the  dogs 
as  they  walk  in  and  out  of  the  hut.  By  the  time  he 
is  four  years  old  he  is  on  horseback,  and  immediately 
becomes  useful  by  assisting  to  drive  the  cattle  into  the 
corral.  The  manner  in  which  these  children  ride  is 
quite  extraordinary :  if  a  horse  tries  to  escape  from 
the  flock  which  are  driven  towards  the  corral  (the 
enclosure  for  cattle),  I  have  frequently  seen  a  child 
pursue  him,  overtake  him,  and  then  bring  him  back, 
flogging  him  the  whole  way  ;  in  vain  the  creature 
tries  to  dodge  and  escape  from  him,  for  the  child 
turns  with  him,  and  always  keeps  close  to  him  ; 
and  it  is  a  curious  fact,  which  I  have  often  observed, 
that  a  mounted  horse  is  always  able  to  overtake  a 
loose  one. 

"  His  amusements  and  his  occupations  soon  become 
more  manly.  Careless  of  the  biscacheros  (the  holes 
of  an  animal  called  the  biscacho,  which  undermine  the 
plains,  and  which  are  very  dangerous)  he  gallops  after 
the  ostrich,  the  gama,  the  puma,  and  the  jaguar ;  he 
catches  them  with  his  balls ;  and  with  his  lasso  he 
daily  assists  in  catching  the  wild  cattle  and  dragging 
them  to  the  hut,  either  for  slaughter  or  to  be  milked. 
He  breaks  in  the  young  horses,  and  in  these  occupa- 
tions is  soon  away  from  his  hut  many  days,  changing 
his  horse  as  often  as  the  animal  is  tired,  and  sleeping 
on  the  ground.  As  his  constant  food  is  beef  and  wa- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  71 

ter,  his  constitution  is  so  strong  that  he  is  able  to  en- 
dure great  fatigue  ;  and  the  distances  he  will  ride,  and 
the  number  of  hours  he  will  remain  on  horseback, 
would  hardly  be  credited.  The  unrestrained  freedom 
of  such  a  life  he  fully  appreciates  ;  and,  unacquainted 
with  subjection  of  any  sort,  his  mind  is  often  inspired 
with  sentiments  of  liberty  which  are  as  noble  as  they 
are  harmless,  although  they  of  course  partake  of  the 
wild  habits  of  his  life.  Vain  is  the  endeavor  to  ex- 
plain to  him  the  luxuries  and  blessings  of  a  more 
civilized  life  ;  his  ideas  are,  that  the  noblest  effort 
of  man  is  to  raise  himself  off  the  ground  and  ride 
instead  of  walk ;  that  no  rich  garments  or  variety  of 
food  can  atone  for  the  want  of  a  horse  ;  and  that  the 
print  of  the  human  foot  on  the  ground  is  the  symbol 
of  uncivilisation. 

"  The  character  of  the  Guacho  is  often  very  esti- 
mable, he  is  always  hospitable  ;  at  his  hut  the  travel- 
ler is  sure  to  find  a  friendly  welcome,  and  he  will  often 
be  received  with  a  natural  dignity  of  manner  which  is 
very  remarkable,  and  which  he  scarcely  expects  to 
meet  with  in  such  a  miserable  looking  hovel.  On 
my  entering  the  hut,  the  Guacho  has  constantly  risen 
to  offer  me  his  seat,  which  I  have  declined,  and  many 
compliments  and  bows  have  passed,  until  I  have 
accepted  his  offer, — the  skeleton  of  a  horse's  head. 
It  is  curious  to  see  them  invariably  take  off  their 
hats  to  each  other  as  they  enter  a  room  which  has 


72  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

no  window,  a  bullock's  hide  for  a  door,  and  but  little 
roof." 

Sir  Francis,  who  had  occasion  to  make  frequent 
journeys  across  the  Pampas  between  Buenos  Ayres 
to  the  Andes,  adopted  the  Guacho  style  of  riding, 
galloping  from  sunrise  to  sunset  without  stopping 
except  to  change  horses,  sleeping  at  night  on  the 
bare  ground  with  his  saddle  for  a  pillow,  and  living 
on  beef  and  water.  So  violent  was  the  exertion,  that 
at  first  the  blood  used  to  gush  from  his  nose  as  he 
sank  down  at  evening  utterly  exhausted  ;  but  practice 
hardened  him  by  degrees,  and  at  length,  such  was 
the  effect  of  his  -rude  training  and  simple  diet,  that  he 
felt,  to  use  his  own  words,  "as  if  nothing  would  kill 
him." 

Every  one  has  heard  of  the  celebrated  highwayman 
Turpin,  his  black  mare,  and  the  incredibly  short  space 
of  time  in  which  she  is  said  to  have  carried  him  from 
London  to  York,  animated  by  the  juice  of  a  beef- 
steak, which  the  bold  robber  had  tied  round  the  bit. 
The  efficacy  of  this  expedient  appears  to  be  esta- 
blished. We  ourselves  are  aware  of  its  having  been 
practised  by  a  noted  hardriding  butcher  of  Dover, 
and  it  is  deserving  of  remark,  that  his  horse  was  of  an 
exceedingly  violent  and  ungovernable  temper,  pos- 
sibly from  the  effects  of  this  frequent  beef-chewing. 
An  inhabitant  of  Hamah  in  Syria,  assured  Burckhardt 
that  he  had  often  given  his  horses  roasted  meat  before 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  73 

the  commencement  of  a  fatiguing  journey,  that  they 
might  be  the  better  able  to  endure  it ;  and  the  same 
person  fearing  lest  the  governor  should  take  from  him 
his  favorite  horse,  fed  him  for  a  fortnight  exclusively 
upon  roasted  pork,  which  so  excited  his  spirit  and 
mettle,  that  he  became  absolutely  unmanageable,  and 
no  longer  an  object  of  desire  to  the  governor.  The 
classical  reader  will  call  to  mind  the  mares  of  Dio- 
medes,  which  were  fed  upon  human  flesh,  according 
to  the  Greek  legend,  and  which  it  was  one  of  the 
labors  of  Hercules  to  capture. 

In  the  "  Edinburgh  Journal  of  Natural  History," 
we  find  the  following  passage  : — "  We  are  assured  by 
Mr.  Youatt,  that  in  Auvergne  fat  soups  are  given  to 
cattle,  especially  when  sick  or  enfeebled,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  invigorating  them.  The  same  practice  is 
observed  in  some  parts  of  North  America,  where  the 
country  people  mix,  in  winter,  fat  broth  with  the 
vegetables  given  to  their  cattle,  in  order  to  render 
them  more  capable  of  resisting  the  severity  of  the 
weather.  These  broths  have  been  long  considered 
efficacious  by  the  veterinary  practitioners  of  our  own 
country  in  restoring  horses  which  have  been  enfeebled 
through  long  illness.  It  is  said  by  Peall  to  be  a  com- 
mon practice  in  some  parts  of  India  to  mix  animal 
substances  with  the  grain  given  to  feeble  horses,  and 
to  boil  the  mixture  into  a  sort  of  paste,  which  soon 
brings  them  into  good  condition,  and  restores  their 
5 


74  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

vigor.  Pallas  tells  us  that  the  Russian  boors  make 
use  of  the  dried  flesh  of  the  Hamster  reduced  to  pow- 
der, and  mixed  with  oats  ;  and  that  this  occasions 
their  horses  to  acquire  a  sudden  and  extraordinary 
degree  of  embonpoint.  Anderson  relates,  in  his 
'  History  of  Iceland,'  that  the  inhabitants  feed  their 
horses  with  dried  fishes  when  the  cold  is  very  intense, 
and  that  these  animals  are  extremely  vigorous,  though 
small.  We  also  know  that  in  the  Feroe  Islands,  the 
Orkneys,  the  Western  Islands,  and  in  Norway,  where 
the  climate  is  very  cold,  this  practice  is  also  adopted  ; 
and  it  is  not  uncommon  in  some  very  warm  countries 
— as  in  the  kingdom  of  Muskat,  in  Arabia  Felix,  near 
the  straits  of  Ormuz,  one  of  the  most  fertile  parts  of 
Arabia,  fish  and  other  animal  substances  are  there 
given  to  the  horses  in  the  cold  season,  as  well  as  in 
times  of  scarcity." 

From  horses  eating  to  horses  eaten,  the  transition 
is  easy  and  natural.  Wherever  the  animal  exists  in 
an  unreclaimed  state,  its  flesh  is  a  staple  article  of 
food.  The  Kirghis  Kassaks  pursue  it  with  hawks, 
and  shoot  it  with  arrows,  or  drive  it  into  the  Caspian 
Sea  to  be  drowned.  The  Calmucks,  Mongols,  and 
other  Tartars,  make  use  of  horse  meat,  and  manufac- 
ture a  weak  spirit,  called  koumiss,  from  mare's  milk. 
The  mounted  Indians  of  South  America  have  no  other 
food  than  the  flesh,  milk,  and  blood  of  their  mares, 
which  they  never  ride ;  and  the  only  luxury  in  which 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  76 

they  indulge  habitually,  is  that  of  washing  their  hair 
in  mare's  blood.  They  are  fond  indeed  of  intoxicating 
liquors,  which  they  drink  to  excess  when  they  can 
procure  them  from  the  white  men ;  but  this  happens 
only  on  rare  occasions,  and  they  have  none  of  their 
own  manufacture. 

The  tribes  that,  settling,  some  fifteen  hundred  or 
two  thousand  years  ago,  in  the  regions  of  Europe  sur- 
rounding the  Baltic,  brought  with  them  the  worship 
of  Odin,  were  undoubtedly  of  Asiatic  origin,  and  came 
probably  from  the  banks  of  the  Don,  and  the  shores 
of  the  Black  Sea.  It  is  a  curious  confirmation  of  this 
opinion,  that  the  eating  of  horseflesh  prevailed  among 
their  descendants  down  to  the  eleventh  century. 
Now  such  a  custom  could  never  have  arisen  spon- 
taneously in  a  country  like  Germany,  or  Scandinavia, 
where  the  animal  was  comparatively  scarce  and  valua- 
ble, but  it  must  have  existed  from  the  earliest  times 
in  the  inexhaustible  pastures  of  the  plains  of  Asia. 
It  was  practised  at  the  religious  feasts  of  the  Pagan 
north,  in  commemoration  of  the  original  land  of  those 
who  partook  of  the  banquet,  and  was  a  token  of 
adherence  to  the  religion  of  Odin.  In  one  of  Pope 
Zachary's  letters  to  Saint  Boniface,  the  great  apostle 
of  the  Germans,  he  enjoins  that  pious  missionary  to 
prevent  the  eating  of  horseflesh  ;  and  St.  Olaf,  the 
cruel  king,  who  converted  the  Scandinavians  to 
Christianity  by  the  sword,  put  to  death  or  mutilated 


76  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

all  who  persisted  in  using  that  heathenish  food. 
Odinism  is  now  extinct,  and  no  man  can  be  tempted 
by  hostility  to  Christianity  to  prefer  horse-steaks  to 
beef-steaks.  Yet  is  it  not  very  curious  to  find  that 
neither  a  total  change  of  religion,  nor  the  lapse  of 
seven  centuries,  has  quite  extinguished  the  hereditary 
taste  of  the  northern  nations  for  such  untempting 
viands  ?  There  has  even  sprung  up  in  Germany,  of 
late  years,  a  society  having  for  its  object  to  encourage 
and  promote  the  use  of  horseflesh  for  human  food? 
The  horse  is  the  only  animal  slaughtered  for  the 
supply  of  the  prisoners,  in  the  house  of  correction  in 
Copenhagen.  Mr.  Bremner,  who  courageously  tasted 
both  the  soup  and  the  bouilli,  says,  that  the  latter  is 
"  tough,  like  the  worst  kinds  of  beef,  but  by  no  means 
bad  to  eat,  or  disagreeable  in  taste,  only  dry  and 
thready.  Had  we  not  been  told,  we  should  have  taken 
it  for  the  flesh  of  an  ox  ill  fed." 

Is  it  not  wonderful  thus  to  behold  systems  of 
cookery  surviving  systems  of  religion  out  of  which 
they  arose,  and  to  see  empires  and  kingdoms  pass 
away,  while  the  practices  of  the  kitchen  hold  their 
ground  ?  Special  inclinations  to  certain  kinds  of  food 
may  be  constantly  traced  among  different  nations. 
Swine's  flesh  has  been  from  all  times  an  abomination 
to  the  Arabians  ;  and  the  aversion  of  the  Jew  to 
pork,  wisely  confirmed  by  Divine  command,  is  a 
striking  indication  of  his  Arabian  origin.  The  Ger- 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  77 

manic  nations  have  always  held  beef  in  favor,  and 
they  alone  know  how  to  prepare  it  so  as  to  make  it 
savory  and  nutritive.  In  Germany  as  in  England,  in 
Sweden  as  in  Norway  and  Denmark,  the  German 
blood  announces  itself  by  this  unfailing  test.  The 
Roman  nations,  i.  e.  the  French,  the  Spaniards,  and 
the  Italians,  have  all  something  in  common  in  their 
kitchen  as  in  their  language  and  history.  The  Tartar 
princes,  long  domesticated  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  ac- 
customed to  every  Western  luxury,  still  have  their 
feasts  of  horseflesh,  which  is  dressed  in  twenty  differ- 
ent forms,  and  which  they  wash  down  with  the  choicest 
vintages  of  France  and  Germany. 

Stow  makes  no  mention  of  horse-baiting  as  among 
the  pastimes  of  the  Londoners  in  former  days,  and  for 
the  honor  of  our  ancestors  we  could  hope  that  so 
brutal  a  sport  was  seldom  witnessed  ;  but  that  it  was 
occasionally  practised  is  certain.  Ass-baiting,  although 
more  common,  does  not  appear  to  have  become  very 
popular  ;  not  probably  from  any  lack  of  inclination  to 
torment,  but  because  the  poor  ass  resisted  feebly,  and 
made  but  little  sport.  In  Malcolm's  "Anecdotes  of 
London"  we  are  told  that,  so  late  as  1682,  horse-bait- 
ing was  witnessed,  and  under  circumstances  of  singu- 
lar barbarity.  Notice  was  given  in  the  public  papers 
that  on  the  12th  of  April,  a  horse  of  uncommon 
strength,  and  between  eighteen  and  nineteen  hands 
high,  would  be  baited  to  death  at  his  Majesty's  bear- 


78  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

garden,  at  the  Hope,  on  the  Bank-side,  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  the  Morocco  ambassador,  and  any  nobility 
who  knew  the  horse,  or  would  pay  the  price  of 
admission.  It  seems  that  this  animal  originally  be- 
longed to  the  Earl  of  Rochester,  and  being  of  a 
ferocious  disposition,  bad  killed  several  other  horses, 
for  which  misdeeds  he  was  sold  to  the  Earl  of  Dor- 
chester, and  in  his  service  he  committed  several  simi- 
lar offences ;  he  was  then  transferred  to  the  worse 
than  savages,  who  kept  the  bear-garden.  On  the  day 
appointed,  several  dogs  were  set  on  the  ferocious 
steed,  but  he  destroyed,  or  drove  them  from  the  arena. 
At  length  his  owners  determined  to  reserve  him  for  a 
future  day's  sport,  and  directed  a  person  to  lead  him 
away ;  but  before  the  horse  had  reached  London 
bridge,  the  spectators  demanded  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise  of  baiting  him  to  death,  and  began  to  destroy 
the  building.  At  last  the  poor  beast  was  brought 
back,  and  other  dogs  set  upon  him  without  effect, 
when  he  was  stabbed  Jo  death  with  a  sword. 

A  parallel  for  this  barbarity  is  recorded  in  Colonel 
Davidson's  "  Travels  in  Upper  India."  He  saw  at 
Lucknow,  in  the  king's  stable,  a  beautiful  bay  English 
blood  horse,  which  had  been  presented  by  George  IV. 
to  a  former  king  of  Oude.  The  animal  was  blinded 
with  cloths,  and  fastened  on  each  side  of  his  head- 
stall with  strong  chains,  his  vicious  temper  rendering 
these  precautions  necessary.  While  thus  secured  ho 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  79 

was  not  only  a  windsucker,  but  a  weaver  ;  and  his 
whole  body  incessantly  moved  from  one  side  to 
another  without  rest  by  night  or  day.  On  the 
colonel's  calling  out  in  groom's  fashion,  "  Come  up  !" 
the  weaving  instantly  ceased,  the  horse  trembled 
violently,  and  then  suddenly  lashed  out  with  his  hind 
legs,  as  if  he  wished  to  kick  the  speaker  to  atoms. 
Attempts  had  been  made  to  educate  him  in  the  native 
style,  and  this  was  the  cause  that  had  rendered  him  so 
intolerably  vicious  ;  nor  is  this  to  be  wondered  at,  for 
few  horses  possess  tempers  sufficiently  good  to  endure 
the  severe  treatment  of  the  native  riding  schools.  On 
the  accession  of  the  late  king  of  Oude,  this  poor 
creature  was  turned  loose  into  a  court-yard  with  a 
hungry  royal  Bengal  tiger.  The  battle  was  of  consi- 
derable duration  ;  but  the  event  proved  the  power  and 
spirit  of  the  horse,  who  kicked  the  tiger  to  death  after 
his  own  bowels  had  been  torn  out,  and  trailed  on  the 
ground. 

M .  Arnauld,  in  his  "  History  of  Animals,"  relates 
the  following  incident  of  ferocious  courage  in  a  mule : 
— "  This  animal  belonged  to  a  gentleman  in  Florence, 
and  became  so  vicious  and  refractory,  that  his  master 
resolved  to  make  away  with  him,  by  exposing  him  to 
the  wild  beasts  in  the  menagerie  of  the  grand  duke. 
For  this  purpose  he  was  first  placed  in  the  dens  of  the 
hyenas  and  tigers,  all  of  whom  he  would  have  soon 
destroyed,  had  he  not  been  speedily  removed.  At 


80  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

last  he  was  handed  over  to  the  lion,  but  the  mule,  in- 
stead of  exhibiting  any  symptoms  of  alarm,  quietly 
receded  to  a  corner,  keeping  his  front  opposed  to  his 
adversary.  Once  planted  in  the  corner,  he  resolutely 
kept  his  place,  eyeing  every  movement  of  the  lion, 
\vhich  was  preparing  to  spring  upon  him.  The  lion, 
however,  perceiving  the  difficulty  of  an  attack,  prac- 
tised all  his  wiles  to  throw  the  mule  off  his  guard,  but 
in  vain.  At  length  the  latter,  perceiving  an  opportunity, 
made  a  sudden  rush  upon  the  lion,  and  in  an  instant 
broke  several  of  his  teeth  by  the  stroke  of  his  fore-feet. 
The  '  king  of  beasts,'  as  he  has  been  called,  finding 
that  he  had  got  quite  enough  of  the  combat,  slunk 
grumbling  to  his  cage,  and  left  the  sturdy  mule  master 
of  the  field." 


CHAPTER  V. 

Primitive  Stock  of  Wild  Horses — The  Steppes. 

ARE  there  any  genuine  wild  horses  in  existence — that 
is  to  say,  any  that  are  not  descended,  like  those  of 
South  America,  from  a  domesticated  stock  ?  Natu- 
ralists have  all  concurred  until  very  recently  in  an- 
swering this  question  negatively.  They  were  of 
opinion  that,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sheep,  the  goat,  and 
some  other  domestic  animals,  not  a  single  indication 
remains  by  which  we  can  judge  of  the  form,  the  color, 
or  the  habits,  by  which  the  horse  was  characterized 
before  it  became  the  servant  of  man,  or  how  far  it 
may  have  differed  from  the  present  domesticated 
races.  But  this  opinion  is  entirely  gratuitous,  and  un- 
supported by  a  single  fact.  They  choose  to  assume, 
in  defiance  of  probability  and  of  testimony,  that  the 
herds  of  horses  that  roam  over  the  vast  unexplored 
regions  of  Central  Asia  are  not  wild  but  feral  (that  is, 
sprung  from  a  tame  stock),  for  no  other  reason  than 
because  they  are  not  very  unlike  our  ordinary  domestic 
breeds.  Colonel  Hamilton  Smith,  a  writer  of  great 
authority,  has  combated  these  notions  with  great  force. 
5* 


82  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

"Whatever,"  he  says,  "  maybe  the  lucubrations  of 
naturalists  in  their  cabinets,  it  does  not  appear  that  the 
Tahtar  or  even  the  Cossack  nations  have  any  doubt 
upon  the  subject ;  for  they  assert  that  they  can  distin- 
guish a  feral  breed  from  the  wild  by  many  tokens,  and 
naming  the  former  takja  and  muzin,  they  denominate 
the  real  wild  horse  tarpan  and  tarpani.  We  have  had 
some  opportunity  of  making  personal  inquiries  on  wild 
horses  among  a  considerable  number  of  Cossacks  of 
different  parts  of  Russia,  and  among  Bashkirs,  Kir- 
guise,  and  Kalmucs,  and  with  a  sufficient  recollection 
of  the  statements  of  Pallas  and  Buffon's  information 
obtained  from  M.  Sanchez,  to  direct  the  questions  to 
most  of  the  points  at  issue.  From  the  answers  of 
Russian  officers  of  this  irregular  cavalry,  who  spoke 
French  or  German,  we  drew  the  general  conclusion 
of  their  general  belief  in  a  true  wild  and  untamable 
species  of  horse,  and  in  herds  that  were  of  mixed  ori- 
gin. Those  most  acquainted  with  a  nomadic  life,  and 
in  particular  an  orderly  Cossack  attached  to  a  Tahtar 
chief  as  Russian  interpreter,  furnished  us  with  the  sub- 
stance of  the  following  notice.  The  tarpani  form  herds 
of  several  hundreds,  subdivided  into  smaller  troops, 
each  headed  by  a  stallion  ;  they  are  not  found  unmix- 
ed excepting  towards  the  borders  of  China ;  they  pre- 
fer wide,  open,  elevated  steppes,  and  always  proceed 
in  lines  or  files,  usually  with  the  head  to  windward, 
moving  slowly  forward  while  grazing,  the  stallions 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  83 

leading,  and  occasionally  going  round  their  own  troop. 
Young  stallions  are  often  at  some  distance,  and  single, 
because  they  are  expelled  by  the  older,  until  they  can 
form  a  troop  of  mares  of  their  own  ;  their  heads  are 
seldom  observed  to  be  down  for  any  length  of  time  ; 
they  utter  now  and  then  a  kind  of  snort,  with  a  low 
neigh  somewhat  like  a  horse  expecting  its  oats,  but 
yet  are  distinguishable  by  the  voice  from  any  domestic 
species,  excepting  the  woolly  Kalmuc  breed.  They 
have  a  remarkably  piercing  sight,  the  point  of  a  Cos- 
sack spear  at  a  great  distance  on  the  horizon,  seen  be- 
hind a  bush,  being  sufficient  to  make  a  whole  troop 
halt ;  but  this  is  not  a  token  of  alarm  ;  it  soon  resumes 
its  march,  till  some  young  stallion  on  the  skirts  begins 
to  blow  with  his  nostrils,  moves  his  ears  in  all  direc- 
tions with  rapidity,  and  trots  or  scampers  forward  to 
reconnoitre,  the  head  being  very  high,  and  the  tail  out ; 
if  his  curiosity  is  satisfied,  he  stops  and  begins  to 
graze  ;  but  if  he  takes  alarm,  he  flings  up  his  croup, 
turns  round,  and  with  peculiarly  shrill  neighing  warns 
the  herd,  which  immediately  turns  round,  and  gallops  off 
at  an  amazing  rate,  with  the  stallions  in  the  rear,  stop- 
ping and  looking  back  repeatedly,  while  the  mares  and 
foals  disappear  as  if  by  enchantment,  because,  with 
unerring  tact,  they  select  the  first  swell  of  ground,  or 
ravine,  to  conceal  them,  until  they  re-appear  at  a  great 
distance,  generally  in  a  direction  to  preserve  the  lee- 
side  of  the  apprehended  danger.  Although  bears  and 


84  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

wolves  occasionally  prowl  after  a  herd,  they  will  not 
venture  to  attack  it,  for  the  sultan-stallion  will  instant- 
ly meet  the  enemy,  and,  rising  on  his  haunches,  strike 
him  down  with  his  fore-feet ;  and  should  he  be  worst- 
ed, which  is  seldom  the  case,  another  stallion  becomes 
the  champion ;  and  in  the  case  of  a  troop  of  wolves, 
the  herd  forms  a  close  mass,  with  the  foals  within,  and 
the  stallions  charge  in  a  body,  which  no  troop  of 
wolves  will  venture  to  encounter.  Carnivora,  therefore, 
must  be  contented  with  aged  or  injured  stragglers. 

"  The  sultan-stallion  is  not,  however,  suffered  to 
retain  the  chief  authority  for  more  than  one  season 
without  opposition  from  others,  rising,  in  the  confi- 
dence of  youthful  strength,  to  try  by  battle  whether 
the  leadership  should  not  be  confided  to  them,  and  the 
defeated  party  driven  from  the  herd  in  exile.  These 
animals  are  found  in  the  greatest  purity  in  the  Kara 
Coom,  south  of  the  lake  Aral,  and  the  Syrdaria,  near 
Kusneh,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Tom,  in  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Kalkas,  the  Mongolian  deserts,  and  the 
solitudes  of  the  Gobi.  Within  the  Russian  frontier 
there  are,  however,  some  adulterated  herds,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  fixed  settlements,  distinguishable  by 
the  variety  of  their  colors,  and  a  selection  of  resi- 
dence less  remote  from  human  habitations.  Real 
tarpans  are  not  larger  than  ordinary  mules  ;  their 
color  is  invariably  tan,  Isabella,  or  mouse,  being  all 
shades  of  the  same  livery,  and  only  varying  in  depth 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  85 

by  the  growth  or  decrease  of  a  whitish  surcoat,  longer 
than  the  hair,  increasing  from  Midsummer,  and 
shedding  in  May  ;  during  the  cold  season  it  is  long, 
heavy,  and  soft,  lying  so  close  as  to  feel  like  a  bear's 
fur,  and  then  is  entirely  grizzled ;  in  summer  much 
falls  away,  leaving  only  a  certain  quantity  on  the  back 
and  loins :  the  head  is  small ;  the  forehead  greatly 
arched  ;  and  the  ears  far  back,  either  long  or  short ; 
the  eyes  small  and  malignant ;  the  chin  and  muzzle 
beset  with  bristles  ;  the  neck  rather  thin,  and  crested 
with  a  thick  rugged  mane,  which,  like  the  tail,  is 
black,  as  are  also  the  pasterns,  which  are  long ;  the 
hoofs  are  narrow,  high,  and  rather  pointed ;  the  tail, 
descending  only  to  the  hocks,  is  furnished  with  coarse 
and  rather  curly  or  wavy  hairs,  close  up  to  the  crup- 
per ;  the  croup  is  as  high  as  the  withers.  The  voice 
of  the  tarpan  is  loud,  and  shriller  than  that  of  a 
domestic  horse  ;  and  their  action,  standing,  and  general 
appearance  resemble  somewhat  those  of  vicious  mules. 
Such  is  the  general  evidence  obtained  from  the  orderly 
before  mentioned  ;  a  man  who  was  a  perfect  model 
of  an  independent  trooper  of  the  desert,  and  who  had 
spent  ten  or  twelve  years  on  the  frontier  of  China. 

Leo  Africanus  states  that  there  are  wild  horses  in 
Northern  Africa,  and  that  they  are  sometimes  taken 
by  means  of  snares,  and  their  flesh  is  eaten  by  the 
Arabs.  This  is  probably  the  animal  first  described  by 
Colonel  H.  Smith,  under  the  name  of  Koomrah.  It 


86  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

differs  remarkably  from  all  other  known  breeds  in  not 
being  gregarious.  It  inhabits  the  mountain  forests, 
whence  it  comes  down  singly  or  in  small  groups,  to 
the  wells,  where  only  it  is  liable  to  be  captured,  by 
men  or  by  beasts  of  prey  ;  but  its  wariness,  its  keen 
sense  of  smell,  its  fleetness,  and  the  courage  and 
fierceness  with  which  it  defends  itself  when  brought  to 
bay,  render  it  very  difficult  to  be  taken.  Colonel  H. 
Smith  says,  "  of  the  real  koomrah  we  have  seen  a 
living  specimen  in  England,  and  the  skin  of  another. 
The  first  came  from  Barbary ;  the  second  died  on 
board  of  a  slave-ship,  on  the  passage  from  the  coast  of 
Guinea  to  the  West  Indies  in  1798,  the  skin,  legs, 
and  head  having  been  carefully  preserved  by  the 
master,  who  kindly  permitted  a  sketch  and  notes  to  be 
made  of  it  at  Dominica. 

"  The  koomrah  of  the  mountains  is  about  ten,  or 
ten  and  a  half  hands  high  ;  the  head  is  broad  across 
the  forehead,  and  deep  measured  to  the  jowl ;  it  is 
small,  short,  and  pointed  at  the  muzzle,  making  the 
profile  almost  triangular  ;  instead  of  a  forelock  between 
the  ears,  down  to  the  eyes  the  hair  is  long  and  woolly  ; 
the  eyes  are  small,  of  a  light  hazel  color ;  and  the 
ears  large  and  wide  ;  the  neck  thin,  forming  an  angle 
with  the  head,  and  clad  with  a  scanty  but  long  black 
mane ;  the  shoulder  rather  vertical  and  meagre,  with 
withers  low,  but  the  croup  high  and  broad  ;  the  barrel 
large  ;  thighs  cat-hammed,  and  the  limbs  clean  but 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  87 

asinine,  with  the  hoofs  elongated  ;  short  pastern,  small 
callosities  on  the  hind  legs ;  and  the  tail  clothed  with 
short  fur  for  several  inches  before  the  long  black  hair 
begins.  The  animal  is  entirely  of  a  reddish  bay 
color,  without  streak  or  mark  on  the  spine,  or  any 
white  about  the  limbs.  We  made  our  sketch  at 
Portsmouth,  and  believe  it  refers  to  the  same  animal, 
which  lived  for  many  years,  if  we  are  rightly  informed, 
in  a  paddock  of  the  late  Lord  Grenville's.  There  was 
in  the  British  Museum  a  stuffed  specimen  exactly 
corresponding  in  size  and  color,  but  with  a  head 
(possibly  in  consequence  of  the  taxidermist  wanting 
the  real  skull)  much  longer  and  less  in  depth.  The 
other  specimen,  which  came  from  the  mountains  north 
of  Accra  in  Guinea,  was  again  entirely  similar.  We 
were  told  that  in  voice  it  differed  from  both  horse 
and  ass  ;  and  in  temper,  that  which  died  on  shipboard, 
though  very  wild  and  shy  at  first,  was  by  no  means 
vicious,  and  it  fed  on  sea-biscuit  with  willingness." 

The  Steppes,  as  the  great  table  land  of  Central 
Asia  is  called,  extend  from  the  borders  of  Hungary 
to  those  of  China.  They  constitute  an.  almost  unin- 
terrupted plain,  of  considerable  elevation,  covered  in 
spring  and  autumn  by  a  luxuriant  herbage  ;  in  winter 
by  drifting  snows,  heaped  up  in  some  places,  and 
leaving  the  ground  bare  in  others  ;  and  in  summer  by 
clouds  of  dust  so  excessively  fine,  that  even  on  the 
calmest  day  they  hang  suspended  in  the  air,  having 
the  appearance  rather  of  a  varjor  exhaled  from  the 


88  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

ground,  than  of  earthy  particles  raised  by  the  agita- 
tion of  the  atmosphere.  The  slight  undulations  that 
occur  assume  but  rarely  the  character  of  hills  ;  but 
artificial  hillocks  or  tumuli  are  frequently  met  with, 
the  origin  of  which  it  is  impossible  to  trace  through 
the  darkness  of  bygone  ages.  The  most  singular 
characteristic,  however,  of  the  Steppe  is,  the  total 
absence  of  trees,  on  a  soil  remarkable  for  its  richness, 
and  the  luxuriance  of  its  herbage.  For  hundreds  of 
miles  a  traveller  may  proceed  in  a  straight  line  without 
encountering  even  a  bush,  unless  he  happens  to  be 
acquainted  with  the  few  spots  known  to  the  Tartar 
sportsmen,  to  whom  they  answer  the  purpose  of  game 
preserves.  Countless  herds  of  horned  cattle,  and  wild 
or  half-wild  horses,  roam  over  these  noble  pasture- 
grounds,  on  which  a  calf,  born  at  the  foot  of  the  great 
Chinese  wall,  might  eat  his  way  along  until  he  arrived, 
a  well-fattened  ox,  on  the  banks  of  the  Dniestr,  pre- 
pared to  figure  with  advantage  at  the  Odessa  market. 
The  poor  animals  suffer  much  during  the  hot  and  dry 
summers,  when  every  blade  of  grass  is  parched  up ; 
but  the  careful  herdsman  who  has  provided  himself 
with  an  abundant  stock  of  hay,  is  able  to  keep  his 
beasts  alive  until  autumn  returns  to  gladden  them  with 
fresh  abundance. 

The  most  pleasing  aspect  of  the  Steppe  is  that 
presented  in  spring.  In  the  first  week  of  that  season, 
while  as  yet  the  snow  has  scarcely  disappeared  from 
the  earth,  a  luxuriant  vegetation  springs  up,  converting 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  89 

the  waste  into  a  fairy  scene.  On  this  carpet  of  rich 
green  grass,  variegated  by  the  hyacinth,  the  tulip,  the 
crocus,  and  the  wild  mignionette,  besides  a  thousand 
other  flowers,  a  traveller  mounted  on  the  fleetest  steed, 
and  riding  without  intermission  night  and  day,  if  such  a 
thing  were  possible,  would  find  the  spring  elapse  be- 
fore he  could  reach  the  end  of  this  vast  plain,  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  does  it  cover ;  and  so 
little  would  he  find  it  differing  from  the  frontiers  of  the 
Ukraine  to  those  of  Chinese  Tartary,  that  at  his  jour- 
ney's end  he  might  still  fancy  the  same  scene  sur- 
rounded him  as  when  he  began  it ;  the  Steppe  almost 
everywhere  resembling  the  Steppe  on  its  eastern,  the 
same  as  on  its  western  frontier. 

With  the  first  summer  months  the  soil,  which  is 
badly  watered,  becomes  dry  and  arid  in  the  burning 
sun ;  the  grass  withers  and  turns  brown,  and  then 
more  dusky  still,  as  it  gets  covered  with  the  black 
dust  which  the  wind  disturbs,  until  at  last  the  whole 
Steppe  becomes  covered  with  the  same  sombre  hue  ; 
life  seems  for  ever  destroyed  in  all  the  withered  vegeta- 
tion, except  wormwood  and  prickly  weeds,  which 
cover  whole  tracts,  still  thriving  in  the  rankness  of  the 
nitrous  soil,  wherein  they  have  grown  to  such  gigantic 
size,  that  the  thistles  rise  like  little  woods,  capable  of 
concealing  a  whole  encampment,  and  in  which  a 
mounted  rider  is  perfectly  hidden  when  sitting  on  the 
tallest  horse. 


90  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

Towards  the  end  of  summer  one  parched  and  arid 
wilderness  extends  around  on  every  side,  in  which  the 
cattle  grow  thin  and  languid,  and  often  perish  in  great 
numbers  for  want  of  water.  The  Russian  herdsman 
can  no  longer  extract  a  draught  of  milk  from  his  cows  ; 
the  Tartar  finds  that  the  dugs  of  his  mares  refuse  him 
the  needful  refreshment.  Towards  autumn  the  Steppe 
is  constantly  set  fire  to  ;  sometimes  through  careless- 
ness or  wilfulness,  sometimes  for  sake  of  the  young 
crop  of  grass  that  shoots  up  through  the  ashes,  when 
the  mists  and  dewy  nights  of  autumn  give  a  fresh  and 
ephemeral  life  to  the  productions  of  the  earth.  The 
fires  sometimes  extend  for  hundreds  of  miles,  and 
give  rise  to  frequent  accidents. 

The  method  of  escaping  from  the  flames,  which 
come  on  roaring  and  crackling  over  an  extent  many 
miles  in  width,  is  not  by  flight ;  because  though  the 
steed  may  carry  his  rider  faster  than  the  fire  can 
travel,  it  is  sure  to  overtake  the  fugitive  in  the  long 
run.  The  inhabitants  of  the  Steppe  resort  to  the 
same  means  as  those  of  the  American  prairies  to  save 
themselves  ;  they  combat  fire  by  fire,  and  kindling 
the  grass  to  leeward,  they  advance  in  the  rear  of 
the  flames,  which  clear  the  way  for  them,  and  leave 
no  food  for  the  burning  sea  that  is  rushing  towards 
them. 

In  the  autumn  water  is  less  scarce  ;  a  partial  ver- 
dure springs  through  the  withered  stems  of  grass  and 


THE    HORSE   AND    HIS    RIDER.  91 

plants,  and  the  herds  recover.  The  winter  is  intensely 
cold.  The  piercing  winds  which  have  swept  across 
the  North  American  continent  and  the  Arctic  regions 
of  Siberia,  howl  over  these  now  desolate  and  cheerless 
regions,  where  nothing  breaks  the  monotony  of  thou- 
sands and  thousands  of  miles  of  level  ground,  except 
the  tumuli  of  the  ancient  Mongol  warriors,  the  tents 
of  the  Calmuck  and  the  Tartar,  and  the  huts  of  the 
Cossack  or  the  herdsman,  and  where  nothing  inter- 
venes to  arrest  the  violence  or  to  modify  the  rigor  of 
the  freezing  blast.  No  language  can  give  an  adequate 
idea  of  these  metels  as  they  are  called  in  Southern 
Russia.  They  come  down  on  the  land  with  such 
whirling  and  driving  gusts,  such  furious  and  con- 
tinuous tempests,  such  whistlings  and  roarings  of  the 
wind,  and  a  sky  so  murky  and  threatening,  that  no 
hurricane  at  sea  can  be  more  terrific.  The  snow  is 
now  piled  up  mountains  high,  now  hollowed  into 
deep  valleys,  now  spread  out  into  rushing  and  heaving 
billows ;  or  it  is  driven  through  the  air,  fluttering  like 
a  long  white  veil,  until  the  wind  has  scattered  the  last 
shreds  before  it.  Whole  flocks  of  sheep,  surprised  by 
the  tempest  close  to  their  folds,  and  even  herds  of 
horses,  have  been  driven  into  the  Black  Sea  or  the 
Caspian,  and  drowned.  When  beset  by  such  dangers 
their  instinct  usually  prompts  them  to  cluster  together 
in  a  circle  and  form  a  compact  mass,  so  as  to  present 
a  less  surface  to  the  metel.  But  the  force  of  the  wind 


92  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

gradually  compels  them  onwards  ; — they  reach  the 
shore,  their  footing  fails,  and  finally  they  are  all 
engulfed  in  the  waves. 

In  the  European  Steppes  the  cold  often  reaches 
30°  Reaumur,  or  far  below  the  point  at  which  boiling 
water  cast  up  in  the  air  falls  to  the  earth  in  a  shower 
of  frozen  hailbeads.  Even  where  some  of  the  most 
southern  Asiatic  Steppes  assume  the  character  of  the 
African  Sahara,  and  where  the  camel  in  the  summer 
sinks  up  to  his  knees  in  the  burning  sand,  in  winter 
the  icicles  gather  as  thickly  on  the  few  straggling  hairs 
of  the  Tartar's  chin,  as  they  do  on  the  bushy  beard  of 
the  Muscovite  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva.  Perovski, 
the  governor  of  Orenburg,  on  his  expedition  to  Khiva, 
six  winters  since,  was  arrested  by  the  impassable  snow, 
on  the  very  route  which  he  dared  not  undertake  in 
the  summer  months  for  fear  of  being  buried  under  the 
hot  and  drifting  sand,  as  it  has  not  unfrequently 
happened  to  the  caravans  which  ventured  to  invade 
the  solitude  of  this  desert. 

The  region  of  the  Steppes  is  the  home  of  the  Cos- 
sacks, of  a  portion  of  the  Mongol  race,  and  of  more 
than  a  score  of  Tartar  tribes.  It  is  the  home  of  the 
camel  and  of  the  fat-tailed  Kirghis  sheep  ;  of  the  wild 
steed  and  of  the  Taboon  horse,  scarcely  tame  ;  of  the 
grey  oxen,  which  furnish  nearly  all  our  tallow  ;  of  the 
antelope  and  the  bustard.  The  wolf,  driven  to  change 
his  habits,  burrows  in  these  immense  plains  like  a  fox  ; 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  93 

the  jackal  infests  portions  of  them ;  and  the  destroying 
locust  falls  like  a  blight  and  a  curse  on  the  young 
green  grass  of  the  free  space,  or  on  the  rising  harvest 
of  the  agricultural  pioneer.  On  some  parts  of  these 
wide  Steppes  dwell  the  most  hideous  of  the  human 
race,  the  Calmucks  and  Baskirs  ;  and  on  other  parts 
the  Circassians,  the  most  beautiful  of  their  species, 
still  sometimes  descend  in  their  predatory  excursions.* 

*  Revelations  of  Russia.     Hommaire  de  Hell's  Steppes  of  the 
Caucasus. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Centaur — The  Mongols  and  Calmucks— A  Russian 
Taboon. 

THE  origin  of  the  fabulous  Centaur  is  referred  by 
some  of  the  learned  to  the  Steppes,  whence  the  first 
horses,  and  probably  thek  riders  also,  passed  into 
Thessaly.  The  equestrian  skill  acquired  by  the 
Thessalians  at  an  early  period,  when  the  horse  was 
unknown  in  the  rest  of  Greece,  might  have  induced 
the  imaginative  beholders  to  declare  in  hyperbo- 
lical language  that  the  horse  and  rider  were  one 
body  : — 

"  These  gallants 

Had  witchcraft  in 't ;  they  grew  into  their  seat, 
And  to  such  wondrous  doing  brought  their  horse 
As  they  had  been  incorpsed,  and  deminatured 
With  the  brave  beast." 

And  thus,  what  was  ^t  first  but  a  figurative  expres- 
sion, may  have  come  afterwards  to  be  regarded  as 
standing  for  a  literal  truth.  Or,  as  is  still  more 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  95 

likely,  the  appearance  of  the  first  mounted  strangers 
may  have  so  terrified  the  native  inhabitants,  as  to 
have  sent  them  flying,  with  an  awful  story  in  their 
mouths  of  the  invasion  of  the  country  by  a  set  of 
monsters,  half-man,  half-quadruped.  Thus  it  was  in 
South  America,  where  the  natives  for  a  long  while 
believed  that  the  cavalry  of  the  invaders  were  composite 
animals,  which  they  called  Gachupins,  a  word  which 
continued  to  be  applied  as  a  nickname  to  the  Span- 
iards, until  they  were  expelled  from  the  continent. 
The  Mongol  Tartar  of  the  Steppes  is  just  such  a 
being  as  an  artist  would  choose  to  form  the  human 
portion  of  the  more  than  half-brutish  figure  of  the 
Centaur.  The  upper  portion  of  his  frame  is  well 
developed,  but  his  weak  and  ill-formed  legs  seem 
made  only  to  hold  him  on  his  horse,  on  whose  back 
he  passes  most  of  his  life,  and  with  which  he  appears 
to  form  as  it  were  one  whole.  The  Tartar's  head, 
round  as  a  bullet,  looks  like  a  weight  stuck  on  his 
body  to  balance  it  in  the  gallop.  No  other  expression 
than  those  of  animal  impulses  is  discernible  in  his 
hard  features,  and  small,  black,  oblique  eyes.  He 
scarcely  exhibits  a  trace  of  those  spiritual  conceptions 
which  are  to  be  found  among  all  other  races,  however 
rude  ;  he  possesses  not  the  least  element  of  a  mytho- 
logy, or  of  a  primitive  religion.  The  ancients,  who 
make  mention  of  this  people,  say  that  they  worshipped 


96  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

the  sword  as  the  emblem  of  physical  force ;  and, 
according  to  the  traditions  and  songs  of  the  Sclavonic 
nations,  the  Tartar  has  a  new  deity  for  every  day  of 
his  life,  a  saying  which  very  significantly  expresses  a 
devotion  that  regards  only  the  enjoyments  of  each 
passing  day.  Blind  obedience  to  their  leaders  is 
instinctive  in  this  race ;  and  military  discipline,  which 
among  others  is  the  elaborate  work  of  art,  is  with 
them  the  spontaneous  impulse  of  nature.  Their 
leaders,  who  have  obtained  such  hideous  renown, 
combined  in  their  own  persons  all  the  good  and  bad 
qualities  of  their  hordes  ;  they  were  born  to  command 
armies,  and  possessed  the  art  of  strategy  in  the  highest 
degree,  and  were  utterly  incapable  of  mercy.  The 
deeds  of  Attila,  the  scourge  of  God,  are  well  known. 
Genghis  Khan,  sitting  in  his  tent  beneath  the  pole- 
star,  issued  his  orders  to  two  armies,  one  of  which  was 
devastating  India,  the  other  Germany.  Nay,  the 
inferior  leaders  often  apprehended  and  fell  in  with  the 
general  plan  of  operations  without  receiving  any  spe- 
cial instructions  ;  the  whole  host,  the  whole  race,  was 
evermore  conducted  by  the  unfailing  instinct  that 
guides  the  vulture  to  its  prey.  Genghis  Khan  could 
not  read,  he  did  not  even  know  the  history  of  his  own 
race,  and  yet  he  and  the  other  Mongol  conquerors 
were  not  barbarians,  if  the  art  of  creating  wealth  and 
power  constitutes  civilization.  The  Mongols  were 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  97 

sedulous  to  advance  trade  and  manufactures.  When 
they  sacked  a  city,  they  generally  exempted  the  arti- 
sans from  the  general  butchery,  and  transported  them 
to  their  own  dominions.  The  system  of  posting  was 
known  to  them  :  Genghis  Khan's  courier-stations 
extended  from  China  to  Poland.  It  was  his  wish  to 
establish  everywhere  one  uniform  system  of  weights 
and  measures,  and  it  is  said  that  he  even  hit  upon  the 
invention  of  bank-notes. 

Were  we  now  to  ask,  what  was  the  purpose  of  all 
the  Mongol  expeditions  to  the  remotest  regions,  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  answer  the  question.  Their 
leaders  did  not  set  the  least  value  on  the  wealth  they 
seemed  to  hunt  after.  Destruction  was  their  only 
apparent  object.  It  was  once  coolly  discussed  by  them 
in  a  council  of  war,  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to 
extirpate  the  whole  population  of  Persia,  and  turn  the 
entire  face  of  the  country  into  pasture  ground ;  and 
the  plan  was  very  near  being  realized.  The  Mongol 
rulers  always  declared  that  it  was  their  vocation  to 
chastise  and  exterminate  mankind,  a  belief  which  is 
not  yet  extinct  in  the  race  of  Genghis  Khan.  The 
Mongols  possess  not  one  poet,  not  one  artist,  never- 
theless they  can  claim  one  architectural  invention  as 
peculiarly  their  own,  that,  namely,  of  building  up 
towers  of  living  men  cemented  together  with  mortar. 
Timur  Lenk,  or  Tamurlane,  used  to  assist  the 
6 


98  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

masons  with  his  own  hand  at  this  work.  What  is 
the  greatest  bliss  in  this  world  ?  This  question 
having  been  once  propounded  among  the  sages  and 
chief  men,  the  Khan  replied  :  "  It  is  to  vanquish  the 
foe,  to  outrage  his  wife  before  his  eyes,  to  slaughter 
his  children,  and  then  to  torture  himself  to  death." 
The  sovereign's  opinion  exactly  coincided  with  that  of 
the  people. 

Such  is  the  character  of  the  race  that  first  perhaps 
deserved  the  name  of  "  tamers  of  horses." 

The  Calmucks,  a  principal  branch  of  the  great 
Mongol  stock,  are  more  widely  dispersed  over  the 
globe  than  any  other,  even  the  Arabs  not  excepted. 
Tribes  of  this  people  occur  over  all  the  countries 
of  Upper  Asia,  between  38°  and  52°  north  latitude, 
and  from  the  most  northern  bend  of  the  Hoang-ho  to 
the  banks  of  the  Volga.  They  are  the  Hippophagi, 
or  eaters  of  horseflesh,  of  Pliny,  and  the  more  ancient 
historians.  They  have  very  large  settlements  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Taganrok,  and  there  Dr.  Clarke 
had  an  opportunity  of  studying  their  habits  and  ap- 
pearance. Calmuck  men  and  women  were  continually 
galloping  their  horses  through  the  streets  of  the  town, 
or  lounging  in  the  public  places.  The  women,  he 
says,  ride  better  than  the  men,  and  a  male  Calmuck  on 
horseback  looks  as  if  he  was  intoxicated,  and  likely 
to  fall  off  every  instant,  though  he  never  loses  his 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  99 

seat;  but  the  women  sit  with  much  ease,  and  ride  with 
extraordinary  skill.  We  shall  see,  however,  by  and  by, 
that  the  men  are  better  equestrians  than  the  learned 
traveller  supposed.  The  ceremony  of  marriage  among 
the  Calmucks  is  performed  on  horseback.  A  girl  is 
first  mounted  and  rides  off  at  full  speed.  Her  lover 
pursues,  and  if  he  overtakes  her  she  becomes  his  wife 
on  the  spot,  and  then  returns  with  him  to  his  tent. 
But  it  sometimes  happens  that  the  woman  does  not 
wish  to  marry  the  person  by  whom  she  is  pursued, 
in  which  case  she  will  not  suffer  him  to  overtake 
her  ;  and  Dr.  Clarke  was  assured  that  no  instance 
occurs  of  a  Calmuck  girl  being  thus  caught  unless 
she  has  a  partiality  for  her  pursuer.  If  she  dislikes 
him  she  rides,  in  English  sporting  phrase,  neck  or 
nothing,  until  she  has  completely  escaped,  or  until  the 
pursuer's  horse  is  tired  out,  leaving  her  at  liberty  to 
return,  to  be  afterwards  chased  by  some  more  favored 
admirer. 

Of  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  Russian  empire,  the 
Calmucks  are  the  most  distinguished  by  peculiarity  of 
feature  and  manners.  In  their  personal  appearance 
they  are  athletic,  and  very  forbidding.  Their  hair  is 
coarse  and  black,  their  language  harsh  and  guttural. 
The  Cossacks  alone  esteem  them,  and  intermarry  with 
them;  and  these  unions  sometimes  produce  women  of 
very  great  beauty,  although  nothing  is  more  hideous 


100  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

than  a  Calmuck.  High,  prominent,  broad  cheek 
bones,  widely  separated  from  each  other ;  a  flat  and 
broad  nose;  coarse,  greasy,  jet  black  hair;  scarcely  any 
eyebrows  ;  and  enormous  prominent  ears,  constitute 
no  very  inviting  portrait.  Their  persons  are  inde- 
scribably filthy,  and  their  habits  loathsome.  They  eat 
raw  horseflesh,  and  may  be  seen  tearing  it  like  wild 
beasts  from  large  bones  which  they  hold  in  their  hands. 
Sometimes  they  cook  their  meat,  but  not  in  a  manner 
that  would  make  it  much  more  inviting  to  an  English 
stomach.  They  cut  the  muscular  parts  into  steaks, 
which  they  place  under  their  saddles,  and  after  they 
have  galloped  thirty  or  forty  miles,  they  find  the 
meat  tender  and  palatable.  This  is  a  common  practice 
with  them  on  their  journeys.  The  author  of  Hudibras 
alludes  to  this  culinary  process  in  terms  more  pointed 
than  decorous. 

Everybody  has  heard  of  the  fermented  liquor 
called  koumiss,  which  the  Calmucks,  the  Tartars,  &c., 
manufacture  from  the  milk  of  the  mare.  It  is  pro- 
duced by  combining  with  six  of  warm  milk,  one  part 
of  warm  water,  and  a  little  very  sour  milk  or  old 
koumiss.  The  vessel  is  then  covered  with  a  thick 
cloth  and  left  in  a  moderately  warm  place  for  twenty- 
four  hours,  until  the  whole  mass  becomes  sour.  After 
this  it  is  twice  beaten  with  a  stick  in  the  shape  of  a 
churn  staff,  so  as  perfectly  to  mix  together  the  thick 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  101 

parts  and  the  thin.  This  being  done,  the  process  is 
complete,  and  the  liquor  is  ready  for  drinking. 

A  subsequent  process  of  distillation  obtains  from 
this  koumiss  an  ardent  spirit  called  rack  or  racky,  a 
name  identical  with  that  given  to  the  spirit  manu- 
factured in  the  East  Indies.  Dr.  Clarke  found  some 
women  in  the  act  of  making  it.  "  The  still,"  he  says, 
"  was  composed  of  mud,  or  very  close  clay.  For  the 
neck  of  the  retort  a  cane  was  used ;  and  the  receiver 
was  entirely  covered  with  a  coating  of  wet  clay.  The 
brandy  had  just  passed  over.  The  woman  who  had 
the  management  of  the  distillery,  wishing  to  give  us  a 
small  taste  of  the  spirit,  thrust  a  stick  with  a  small 
tuft  of  camel's  hair  into  the  receiver,  dropped  a 
portion  of  it  on  the  retort,  and  waving  the  instrument 
above  her  head,  scattered  the  remaining  liquor  in  the 
air.  I  asked  the  meaning  of  this  ceremony,  and  was 
told  it  was  a  religious  custom  to  give  always  the  first 
of  the  brandy  which  they  drew  from  the  receiver  to 
their  god.  The  stick  was  then  plunged  into  the 
liquor  a  second  time,  when  more  brandy  adhering  to 
the  camel's  hair,  she  squeezed  it  into  the  palm  of  her 
dirty  hand,  and  having  tasted  the  liquor,  presented  it 
to  our  lips." 

A  recent  traveller,  Madame  de  Hell,  gives  a  more 
pleasing  picture  of  the  Calmucks,  whom  she  saw 
under  favorable  circumstances,  being  the  guest  of  one 


102  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

of  their  princes.     The  following  is  her  account  of  an 
equestrian  entertainment  she  witnessed  : — 

"  The  moment  we  were  perceived,  five  or  six 
mounted  men,  armed  with  long  lassos  (strong  flexible 
thongs  with  running  nooses),  rushed  into  the  middle 
of  the  taboon  (herd  of  half-wild  horses),  keeping  their 
eyes  constantly  fixed  on  the  young  prince,  who  was 
to  point  out  the  animal  they  should  seize.  The 
signal  being  given,  they  instantly  galloped  forward 
and  noosed  a  young  horse  with  a  long  dishevelled 
mane,  whose  dilated  eyes  and  smoking  nostrils  be- 
tokened inexpressible  terror.  A  lightly-clad  Calmuck, 
who  followed  them  on  foot,  immediately  sprang  upon 
the  stallion,  cut  the  thongs  that  were  throttling  him, 
and  engaged  with  him  in  an  incredible  contest  of 
daring  and  agility.  It  would  be  impossible,  I  think, 
for  any  spectacle  more  vividly  to  affect  the  mind  than 
that  which  now  met  our  eyes.  Sometimes  the  rider 
and  his  horse  rolled  together  on  the  grass ;  sometimes 
they  shot  through  the  air  with  the  speed  of  an  arrow, 
and  then  stopped  abruptly,  as  if  a  wall  had  all  at  once 
risen  up  before  them.  On  a  sudden  the  furious 
animal  would  crawl  on  its  belly,  or  rear  in  a  manner 
that  made  us  shriek  with  terror,  then  plunging  forward 
again  in  his  mad  gallop,  he  would  dash  through  the 
taboon,  and  endeavor  in  every  possible  way  to  shake 
off  his  novel  burden. 


. 

THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  103 

"  But  this  exercise,  violent  and  dangerous  as  it 
appeared  to  us,  seemed  but  sport  to  the  Calmuck, 
whose  body  followed  all  the  movements  of  the  animal 
with  so  much  suppleness,  that  one  would  have  fancied 
that  the  same  spirit  animated  both  bodies.  The 
sweat  poured  in  foaming  streams  from  the  stallion's 
flanks,  and  he  trembled  in  every  limb.  As  for  the 
rider,  his  coolness  would  have  put  to  shame  the  most 
accomplished  horseman  in  Europe.  In  the  most 
critical  moments  he  still  found  himself  at  liberty  to 
wave  his  arms  in  token  of  triumph  ;  and  in  spite  of  the 
indomitable  humor  of  his  steed,  he  had  sufficient  com- 
mand over  it  to  keep  it  almost  always  within  the 
circle  of  our  vision.  At  a  signal  from  the  prince,  two 
horsemen,  who  had  kept  as  close  as  possible  to  the 
daring  centaur,  seized  him  with  amazing  quickness, 
and  gallopped  away  with  him,  before  we  had  time  to 
comprehend  this  new  manoeuvre.  The  horse,  for  a 
moment  stupified,  soon  made  off  at  full  speed,  and  was 
lost  in  the  midst  of  the  herd.  These  performances 
were  repeated  several  times  without  a  single  rider 
suffering  himself  to  be  thrown. 

"  But  what  was  our  amazement  when  we  saw  a 
boy  of  ten  years  come  forward  to  undertake  the  same 
exploit !  They  selected  for  him  a  young  white  stal- 
lion of  great  size,  whose  fiery  bounds  and  desperate 
efforts  to  break  his  bonds,  indicated  a  most  violent 
temper. 


104  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

"  I  will  not  attempt  to  depict  our  intense  emotions 
during  this  new  conflict.  This  child,  who,  like  the 
other  riders,  had  only  the  horse's  mane  to  cling  to, 
afforded  an  example  of  the  power  of  reasoning  over 
instinct  and  brute  force.  For  some  minutes  he  main- 
tained his  difficult  position  with  heroic  intrepidity. 
At  last,  to  our  great  relief,  a  horseman  rode  up  to 
him,  caught  him  up  in  his  outstretched  arm,  and 
threw  him  on  the  croup  behind  him." 

We  will  now  lay  before  our  readers  the  economy  of 
a  Russian  taboon,  as  described  by  Kohl,  the  German 
traveller.  A  small  number  of  stallions  and  mares, 
placed  under  the  care  of  a  herdsman,  are  sent  into 
the  Steppe  as  the  nucleus  of  the  herd.  The  foals  are 
kept,  and  the  herd  is  allowed  to  go  on  increasing,  until 
the  number  of  horses  is  thought  to  be  about  as  large 
as  the  estate  can  conveniently  maintain.  A  taboon 
seldom  consists  of  more  than  a  thousand  horses  ;  but 
there  are  landowners  in  the  Steppe,  who  are  supposed 
to  possess  eight  or  ten  such  taboons  in  different  parts 
of  the  country.  It  is  only  when  the  taboon  is  said  to 
be  full,  that  the  owner  begins  to  derive  revenue  from 
it,  partly  by  using  the  young  horses  on  the  estate 
itself,  and  partly  by  selling  them  at  the  fairs,  or  to  the 
travelling  horse-dealers  in  the  employ  of  the  govern- 
ment contractors. 

The  tabunshick,  to  whose  care  the  taboon  is  en- 
trusted, must  be  a  man  of  indefatigable  activity,  and 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  105 

of  an  iron  constitution  ;  proof  alike  against  the  se- 
verest cold,  and  the  most  burning  heat,  and  capable 
of  living,  in  a  constant  exposure  to  every  kind  of 
weather,  without  the  shelter  even  of  a  bush. 

It  must  be  a  matter  of  indifference  to  him  whether 
he  makes  his  bed  at  night  among  the  wet  grass,  or 
upon  the  naked  earth,  baked  for  twelve  hours  by  an 
almost  vertical  sun.     In  the  coldest  weather  he  can 
seldom  hope  for  the  shelter  of  a  roof ;  and  though  the 
hot  winds  blow  upon  him  like  the  blast  of  a  furnace, 
and  his  skin  cracks  with  very  dryness,  yet  he  must 
pass  the  greater  part  of  his  day  in  the  saddle,  ready 
at  every  instant  to  gallop   off  in  pursuit   of  a  stray 
steed,  or  to  fly  to  the  rescue  of  a  young  foal  attacked 
by  a  ravenous  wolf.     The  shepherd  and  the  herdsman 
carry  their  houses  with  them.     Their  large  wagons, 
that  always   accompany   them   on   their   wanderings, 
afford  shelter  from  the  weather,  and  a  warm  nest  at 
night ;   but   these   are   luxuries  the  tabunshick  must 
not  even  dream  of.     His  charges  are  much  too  lively 
to  be  left  to  their  own  guidance.     His  thousand  horses 
are  not  kept  together  in  as  orderly  and  disciplined  a 
fashion  as  those  of  a  regiment  of  dragoons  ;  and  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  an  adjutant  of  cavalry  has 
to  ride  about  as  much,  and  to  give  as  many  orders,  on 
a  day  of  battle,  as  a  tabunshick  on  the  quietest  day 
that  he  spends  in  the  Steppe.    When  on  duty,  a  tabun- 
shick scarcely  ever  quits  the  back  of  his  steed.     He 
6* 


106  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

eats  there,  and  even  sleeps  there  :  but  he  must  beware 
of  sleeping  at  the  hours  when  other  men  sleep ;  for 
while  grazing  at  night,  the  horses  are  most  apt  to 
wander  away  from  the  herd,  and  at  no  time  is  it  more 
necessary  for  him  to  be  on  his  guard  against  wolves, 
and  against  those  adventurous  dealers  in  horseflesh, 
who  usually  contrive  that  the  money  which  they  re- 
ceive at  a  fair  shall  consist  exclusively  of  profit. 
During  a  snow-storm,  the  poor  tabunshick  must  not 
think  of  turning  his  back  to  the  tempest ;  this  his 
horses  are  too  apt  to  do,  and  it  is  his  business  to  see 
that  they  do  not  take  flight,  and  run  scouring  before 
the  wind. 

The  dress  of  a  tabunshick  is  chiefly  composed  of 
leather,  fastened  together  by  a  leathern  girdle,  to 
which  the  whole  veterinary  apparatus,  and  a  variety 
of  little  fanciful  ornaments,  are  usually  appended. 
His  head  is  protected  by  a  high  cylindrical  Tartar  cap, 
of  black  lambskin  ;  and  over  the  whole  he  throws  his 
sreeta,  a  large,  brown,  woollen  cloak,  with  a  hood  to 
cover  his  head.  This  hood,  in  fine  weather,  hangs 
behind,  and  often  serves  its  master  at  once  for  pocket 
and  larder. 

The  tabunshick  has  a  variety  of  other  trappings,  of 
which  he  never  divests  himself.  Among  these,  his 
harabnick  holds  not  the  least  important  place.  This  is 
a  whip,  with  a  thick  short  stem,  but  with  a  thong  often 
fifteen  or  eighteen  feet  in  length.  It  is  to  him  a 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  107 

sceptre  that  rarely  quits  his  hand,  and  without  which 
it  would  be  difficult  for  him  to  retain  his  riotous  sub- 
jects in  anything  like  proper  order.  Next  comes 
his  sling,  which  he  uses  like  the  South  American  lasso, 
and  with  which  he  rarely  misses  the  neck  of  the  horse 
whose  course  he  is  desirous  of  arresting.  The  wolf 
club  is  another  indispensable  part  of  his  equipment. 
This  club,  which  mostly  hangs  at  the  saddle  ready  for 
immediate  use,  is  three  or  four  feet  long,  with  a  thick 
iron  knob  at  the  end.  The  tabunshicks  acquire  such 
astonishing  dexterity  in  the  use  of  this  formidable 
weapon,  that,  at  full  gallop,  they  will  hurl  it  at  a  wolf, 
and  rarely  fail  to  strike  the  iron  end  in  the  prowling 
bandit's  head.  The  club,  skilfully  wielded,  carries 
almost  as  sudden  death  with  it  as  the  rifle  of  an 
American  back-woodsman.  A  cask  of  water  must 
also  accompany  the  tabunshick  on  every  ride,  for  he 
can  never  know  whether  he  may  not  be  for  days  with- 
out coming  to  a  well.  A  bag  of  bread,  and  a  bottle  of 
brandy,  are  likewise  his  constant  companions,  besides 
a  multitude  of  other  little  conveniences  and  necessa- 
ries, which  are  fastened  either  to  himself,  or  his  horse. 
Thus  accoutred,  the  tabunshick  sallies  forth  on  a  mis- 
sion that  keeps  his  dexterity  and  his  power  of  endur- 
ance in  constant  exercise.  His  thousand  untamed 
steeds  have  to  be  kept  in  order  with  no  other  weapon 
than  his  harabnick  ;  and  this,  it  may  easily  be  supposed, 
is  no  easy  task.  His  greatest  trouble  is  with  the 


108  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

stallions,  who,  after  spending  their  ten  or  twelve  years 
on  the  Steppe,  without  having  once  smelt  the  air  of  a 
stable,  or  felt  the  curb  of  a  rein,  become  so  ungovern- 
able, that  the  tabunshick  will  sometimes  threaten  to 
throw  up  his  office,  unless  such  or  such  a  stallion  be 
expelled  from  the  taboon. 

Such  constant  exposures  to  fatigue  and  hardship 
make  the  average  life  of  a  tabunshick  extremely  short. 
At  the  end  of  ten  or  fifteen  years  he  is  generally  worn 
out,  and  unfit  for  such  arduous  duty.  His  pay  there- 
fore is  proportionably  high  ;  for  every  tabunshick  is  a 
hired  servant,  as  no  serf  could  be  impelled  by  any 
dread  of  punishment  to  exert  that  constant  vigi- 
lance, without  which  the  whole  taboon  would  be 
broken  up  in  a  few  days.  What  the  fear  of  the  whip, 
however,  cannot  effect  in  a  slave,  the  hope  of  gain  may 
insure  from  a  freeman.  The  wages  of  a  tabunshick 
are  regulated  by  the  number  of  horses  committed  to 
his  care.  For  each  horse  he  usually  receives  five  or 
six  rubles  a  year  ;  so  that  the  guardian  of  a  full  taboon 
may  earn  his  six  thousand  rubles  annually  (£275),  if 
he  can  keep  the  wolf  and  thief  at  bay  ;  but  every 
horse  that  is  lost  the  tabunshick  must  pay  for  ;  and 
horse  stealing  is  carried  on  so  largely  and  dexterously 
on  the  Steppe,  that  he  may  sometimes  lose  half  a 
year's  wages  in  a  single  night.  He  must  also  pay  his 
assistants  out  of  his  own  wages,  and  three  assistants 
at  least  will  be  required  to  look  after  a  taboon  of  a 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  109 

thousand  horses.  Notwithstanding  all  these  draw- 
backs, however,  the  tabunshick,  if  he  were  vigilant 
and  careful,  might  always  save  money;  but  few  of 
them  do  so,  and  it  rarely  happens,  that  when  invalided, 
they  have  hoarded  together  a  little  capital  to  enable 
them  to  embark  in  any  more  quiet  occupation. 

The  hardships  to  which  they  are  constantly  exposed, 
and  the  high  wages  which  they  receive,  make  the 
tabunshicks  the  wildest  dare-devils  that  can  be 
imagined  ;  so  much  so,  that  it  is  considered  a  settled 
point,  that  a  man  who  has  had  the  care  of  horses  for 
two  or  three  years,  is  unfit  for  any  quiet,  or  settled 
kind  of  life.  No  one,  of  course,  that  can  gain  a  tole- 
rable livelihood  m  any  other  way,  will  embrace  a 
calling  that  subjects  him  to  so  severe  a  life  ;  and  the 
consequence  is,  that  it  is  generally  from  among  the 
scamps  of  a  village  that  servants  are  raised  for  this 
service.  They  are  seldom  without  money,  and  when 
they  do  visit  the  brandy-shop,  they  are  not  deterred 
from  abandoning  themselves  to  a  carouse  by  the 
financial  consideration  likely  to  restrain  most  men  in 
the  same  rank  of  life.  They  ought,  it  is  true,  never 
to  quit  the  taboon  for  a  moment,  but  they  will  often 
spend  whole  nights  in  the  little  brandy-houses  of  the 
Steppe,  drinking  and  gambling,  and  drowning  in  their 
fiery  potations  all  recollections  of  the  last  day's  en- 
durance. When  their  senses  return  with  the  return- 
ing day,  they  gallop  after  their  herds,  and  display 


110  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

no  little  ingenuity  in  repairing  the  mischief  that  may 
have  accrued  from  the  carelessness  of  the  preceding 
night. 

The  tabunshick  lives  in  constant  dread  of  the 
horse-stealer,  and  yet  there  is  hardly  a  tabunshick  on 
the  Steppe  that  will  not  steal  a  horse  if  occasion  pre- 
sents itself.  The  traveller,  who  has  left  his  horses 
to  graze  during  the  night,  or  the  villager,  who  has 
allowed  his  cattle  to  wander  away  from  his  house, 
will  do  well  to  ascertain  that  there  be  no  taboon  in  the 
vicinity,  or  in  the  morning  he  will  look  for  them  in 
vain.  The  tabunshick,  meanwhile,  takes  care  to  rid 
himself,  as  soon  as  possible,  of  his  stolen  goods,  by 
exchanging  them  away  to  the  first  brother  herdsman 
that  he  meets,  who  again  barters  them  away  to 
another  ;  so  that  in  a  few  days,  a  horse  that  was  stolen 
on  the  banks  of  the  Dniepr,  passes  from  hand  to  hand 
till  it  reaches  the  Bug  or  the  Dniestr  ;  and  the  rightful 
owner  may  still  be  inquiring  after  a  steed,  which  has 
already  quitted  the  empire  of  the  Czar,  to  enter  the 
service  of  a  Moslem,  or  to  figure  in  the  stud  of  a 
Hungarian  magnate.  The  tabunshicks  have  con- 
stantly little  affairs  of  this  kind  to  transact  with  one 
another,  for  which  the  Mongolian  tumuli,  scattered 
over  the  Steppe,  afford  convenient  places  of  ren- 
dezvous. 

Accustomed  to  a  life  of  roguery  and  hardship,  and 
indulging  constantly  in  every  kind  of  excess,  the 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  Ill 

tabunshick  comes  naturally  to  be  looked  upon,  by  the 
more  orderly  class,  as  rather  a  suspicious  character ; 
but  his  friendship  is  generally  worth  having,  and  his 
ill-will  is  always  dreaded.  His  very  master  stands  a 
little  in  awe  of  him,  for  a  tabunshick  is  not  a  servant 
that  can  be  dismissed  at  a  day's  notice.  When  the 
taboon  has  once  become  accustomed  to  him,  the  ani- 
mals are  not  easily  brought  to  submit  to  the  control  of 
a  stranger.  The  tabunshick,  moreover,  has  learned  to 
know  his  horses  ;  can  tell  the  worth  of  each,  can  ad- 
vise which  to  sell  and  which  to  keep,  and  knows  where 
the  best  pasture  ground  may  be  looked  for.  Such  a 
fellow,  therefore,  if  intelligent  and  experienced,  what- 
ever his  moral  character  may  be,  becomes  necessary  to 
his  master,  and,  feeling  this,  is  not  long  without  pre- 
suming upon  his  conscious  importance.  He  plays  his 
wild  pranks  with  impunity,  and  looks  down  with  sov- 
ereign contempt  upon  the  more  decent  members  of 
society,  particularly  upon  the  more  honest  shepherds 
and  cowherds,  whom  he  considers,  in  every  point  of 
view,  as  an  inferior  race. 

At  the  horse-fairs,  the  tabunshick  is  always  a 
man  of  great  importance  ;  and  it  is  amusing  and  inte- 
resting to  see  him,  with  his  wild  taboon,  at  Balta  and 
Berditsheff,  where  are  held  the  greatest  fairs  between 
the  Dniepr  and  the  Dniestr.  The  horses  are  driven 
into  the  market  in  the  same  free  condition  in  which 
they  range  over  the  Steppe,  for  if  tied  together  they 


112  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

would  become  entirely  ungovernable.  When  driven 
through  towns  and  villages,  the  creatures  are  often 
frightened ;  but  that  occasions  no  trouble  to  their 
drivers,  for  the  herd  is  never  more  certain  to  keep  toge- 
ther than  when  made  timid  by  the  appearance  of  a 
strange  place.  In  the  market-place  the  taboon  is 
driven  into  an  enclosure,  near  which  the  owner  seats 
himself,  and  the  tabunshick  enters  along  with  his 
horses.  The  buyers  walk  round  to  make  their  selec- 
tion. They  must  not  expect  the  horses  to  be  trotted 
out  for  their  inspection,  as  at  Tattersall's,  but  must 
judge  for  themselves  as  well  as  they  can,  with  the 
comfortable  reflection,  that,  after  they  have  bought  the 
animals,  they  will  have  ample  time  to  become  acquaint- 
ed with  them.  "  I  have  none  but  wild  horses  to  sell," 
the  owner  will  say.  "  Look  at  them  as  long  as  you 
please.  That  horse  I  will  warrant  five  years  old,  hav- 
ing bred  him  on  my  own  Steppe.  Further  than  that  I 
know  nothing  of  him.  The  price  is  a  hundred  rubles. 
Will  you  take  him  ?  If  you  say  yes,  I'll  order  him  to 
be  caught ;  but  I'd  advise  you  to  make  the  tabunshick 
a  present,  that  he  may  take  care  not  to  injure  the  ani- 
mal in  catching  it."  This  last  caution  is  by  no  means 
to  be  neglected,  for  a  horse,  carelessly  caught,  may  be 
lamed  for  several  weeks ;  and  as  the  horse  is  never 
caught  till  the  bargain  has  been  concluded,  any  injury 
done  to  the  animal  is  the  buyer's  business  not  the 
seller's.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  tabunshick  be 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  113 

satisfied  with  the  fee  given  him,  he  goes  about  his  task 
in  a  much  more  methodical  manner.  The  sling  is 
thrown  gently  over  the  neck  of  the  designated  steed, 
but  the  latter  is  not  thrown  with  the  jerk  to  the  ground. 
He  is  allowed  for  a  little  while  to  prance  about  at  the 
full  length  of  his  tether,  till  his  first  fright  be  over. 
Gradually  the  wild  animal  becomes  reconciled  to  the 
unwonted  restraint,  and  the  buyer  leads  him  away 
quietly  to  his  stable,  where  it  will  often  take  a  year's 
tuition  to  cure  him  of  the  vicious  habits  acquired  on 
the  Steppe. 

After  saying  so  much  of  the  tabunshick,  it  will  be 
but  fair  to  give  some  account  of  the  life  led  by  the 
riotous  animals  committed  to  his  charge.  During 
what  is  called  the  fine  season,  from  Easter  to  Octo- 
ber, the  taboon  remains  grazing  day  and  night  in  the 
Steppe. 

During  the  other  six  months  of  the  year,  the  horses 
remain  under  shelter  at  night,  and  are  driven  out  only 
in  the  day,  when  they  must  scrape  away  the  snow  for 
themselves,  to  get  at  the  scanty  grass  underneath. 
When  we  say  the  horses  remain  under  shelter,  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  the  shelter  in  question  resembles 
in  any  way  an  English  stable.  The  shelter  alluded 
to  consists  of  a  space  of  ground  enclosed  by  an  earth- 
en mound,  with  now  and  then  something  like  a  roof 
towards  the  north,  to  keep  off  the  cold  wind.  There 
the  poor  creatures  must  defend  themselves,  as  well  as 


114  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

they  can,  against  the  merciless  Boreas,  who  comes  to 
them  unchecked  in  his  course  all  the  way  from  the 
pole.  To  a  stranger  it  is  quite  harrowing  to  see  the 
noble  animals,  in  severe  weather,  in  one  of  these  un- 
protected enclosures.  The  stallions  and  the  stronger 
beasts  take  possession  of  the  shed ;  the  timid  and 
feeble  stand  in  groups  about  the  wall,  and  creep  closely 
together,  in  order  to  impart  a  little  warmth  to  each 
other.  Nor  is  it  from  cold  that  they  have  most  to  suf- 
fer on  these  occasions.  Early  in  winter  they  still  find 
a  little  autumnal  grass  under  the  snow,  and  the  tabun- 
shick  scatters  a  little  hay  about  the  stable  to  help  them 
to  amuse  the  tedious  hours  of  night.  The  customary 
improvidence  of  a  Russian  establishment,  however, 
seldom  allows  a  sufficient  stock  of  hay  to  be  laid  in 
for  the  winter.  As  the  season  advances,  hay  grows 
scarce,  and  must  be  reserved  for  the  more  valuable 
coach  and  saddle  horses,  and  the  tabunshick  is  obliged 
to  content  himself  with  a  portion  of  the  dry  reeds  and 
straw  stored  up  for  fuel.  For  these  he  has  soon  to 
battle  it  with  the  cook  and  the  stove  heaters,  whose 
interest  never  fails  to  outweigh  that  of  the  poor  taboon 
horses.  These,  if  the  winter  lasts  beyond  the  average 
term,  are  often  reduced  to  the  thatch  of  the  roofs,  and 
sometimes  even  eat  away  one  another's  tails  and  manes ; 
and  that  in  a  country  where  every  year  more  grass  is 
burnt  during  the  summer,  than  would  suffice  to  provide 
a  profusion  of  hay  for  a  century  of  winters  ! — It  will 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  115 

hardly  be  matter  of  surprise  to  any  one,  to  learn  that 
the  winter  is  a  season  of  sickness  and  death  to  the 
horses  of  the  Steppe.  After  the  mildest  winter,  the 
poor  creatures  come  forth,  a  troop  of  sickly  looking 
skeletons ;  but  when  the  season  has  been  severe,  or 
unusually  long,  more  than  half  of  them,  perhaps,  have 
sunk  under  their  sufferings,  or  have  been  so  reduced 
in  strength  that  the  ensuing  six  months  are  hardly  suf- 
ficient to  restore  them  to  their  wonted  spirits.  The 
year  1833  was  remarkably  destructive  to  the  taboons, 
and  they  had  not  recovered  from  its  effects  five  years 
afterwards,  when  I  last  visited  the  Steppe.  In  such 
years  of  famine,  the  most  enormous  prices  are  some- 
times paid  for  hay  ;  yet  every  careful  agriculturist  may 
secure  his  cattle  against  such  sufferings,  by  a  little  in- 
dustry and  forethought.  In  the  proper  season  he  may 
have  as  much  hay  as  he  pleases,  for  the  mere  trouble 
of  cutting  it ;  and  such  is  the  dryness  of  the  climate 
during  summer,  that  the  hay  may  always  be  carried 
home,  and  stacked  within  a  few  hours  after  it  has  been 
mown. 

From  the  hardships  of  an  ordinary  winter,  the  horses 
quickly  recover  amid  the  abundance  of  spring.  A  pro- 
fusion of  young  grass  covers  the  ground  as  soon  as 
the  snow  has  melted  away.  The  crippled  spectres 
that  stalked  about  a  few  weeks  before,  with  wasted 
limbs,  and  drooping  heads,  are  as  wild  and  mischievous 
at  the  end  of  the  first  month,  as  though  they  had  never 


116  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

experienced  the  inconvenience  of  a  six  months'  fast. 
The  stallions  have  already  begun  to  form  their  sepa- 
rate factions  in  the  taboon,  and  the  neighing,  bound- 
ing, prancing,  gallopping,  and  righting,  go  on  merrily 
from  the  banks  of  the  Danube  to  the  very  heart  of 
Mongolia. 

In  a  taboon  of  a  thousand  horses,  there  are  ge- 
nerally fifteen  or  twenty  stallions,  and  four  or  five 
hundred  brood  mares.  The  stallions,  and  parti- 
cularly the  old  ones,  consider  themselves  the  rightful 
lords  of  the  community.  They  exercise  their  authori- 
ty with  very  little  moderation,  and  desperate  battles 
are  often  fought  among  them,  apparently  for  the  mere 
honor  of  the  championship.  In  almost  every  taboon 
there  is  one  stallion  who,  by  the  rule  of  his  hoof,  has 
established  a  sort  of  supremacy,  to  which  his  comrades 
tacitly  submit.  Factions,  cabals,  and  intrigues  are 
not  wanting.  Sometimes  there  will  be  a  general  coa- 
lition against  some  particular  stallion,  who,  if  he  get 
into  a  quarrel,  is  immediately  set  upon  by  ten  or  a 
dozen  at  once,  and  has  no  chance  but  to  run  for  it. 
There  is  seldom  a  taboon  without  two  or  three  of 
these  objects  of  public  animosity,  whomay  be  seen  with 
a  small  troop  of  mares  grazing  apart  from  the  main 
body  of  the  herd. 

The  most  tremendous  battles  are  fought  when  two 
taboons  happen  to  meet.  In  general,  the  tabunshicks 
are  careful  to  keep  at  a  respectful  distance  from  each 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  117 

other ;  but  sometimes  they  are  away  from  their  duty, 
and  sometimes,  when  a  right  of  pasturage  is  disputed, 
they  bring  their  herds  together  out  of  sheer  malice.  The 
mares  and  foals  on  such  occasions  keep  aloof,  but  their 
furious  lords  rush  to  battle  with  an  impetuosity,  of  which 
those  who  are  accustomed  to  see  the  horse  only  in  a 
domesticated  state,  can  form  but  a  poor  conception. 
The  enraged  animals  lash  their  tails,  and  erect  their 
manes  like  angry  lions  ;  their  hoofs  rattle  against  each 
other  with  such  violence,  that  the  noise  can  be  heard 
at  a  considerable  distance  ;  they  fasten  on  one  another 
with  their  teeth  like  tigers  ;  and  their  screamings  and 
howlings  are  more  like  those  of  the  wild  beasts  of  the 
forests,  than  like  any  sounds  ever  heard  from  a  tame 
horse.  The  victorious  party  is  always  sure  to  carry 
away  a  number  of  captive  mares  in  triumph  ;  and  the 
exchange  of  prisoners  is  an  affair  certain  to  bring  the 
tabunshicks  and  their  men  by  the  ears,  if  they  have 
been  able  to  keep  themselves  out  of  the  battle  till  then. 
The  spring,  though  in  so  many  respects  a  season  of 
enjoyment,  is  not  without  its  drawbacks.  The  wolves, 
also,  have  to  indemnify  themselves  for  the  severe  fast 
of  the  winter,  and  are  just  as  desirous  as  the  horses  to 
get  themselves  into  good  condition  again.  The  foals, 
too,  are  just  then  most  delicate,  and  a  wolf  will  any 
day  prefer  a  young  foal,  to  a  sheep,  or  a  calf.  The 
wolf  accordingly  is  constantly  prowling  about  the  ta- 
boon  during  the  spring,  and  the  horses  are  bound  to 


118  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

be  always  prepared  to  do  battle,  in  defence  of  the 
younger  members  of  the  community.  The  wolf,  as 
the  weaker  party,  trusts  more  to  cunning  than  strength. 
For  a  party  of  wolves  openly  to  attack  a  taboon  at 
noon-day,  would  be  to  rush  upon  certain  destruction  ; 
and,  however  severely  the  wolf  may  be  pressed  by 
hunger,  he  knows  his  own  weakness  too  well,  to  ven- 
ture on  so  absurd  an  act  of  temerity.  At  night,  in- 
deed, if  the  taboon  happen  to  be  a  little  scattered,  and 
the  wolves  in  tolerable  numbers,  they  will  sometimes 
attempt  a  rush,  and  a  general  battle  ensues.  An  ad- 
mirable spirit  of  coalition  then  displays  itself  among 
the  horses.  On  the  first  alarm,  stallions  and  mares 
come  charging  up  to  the  threatened  point,  and  attack 
the  wolves  with  an  impetuosity  that  often  puts  the 
prowlers  to  instant  flight.  Soon,  however,  if  they  feel 
themselves  sufficiently  numerous,  they  return,  and 
hover  about  the  taboon,  till  some  poor  foal  straggle  a 
few  yards  from  the  main  body,  when  it  is  seized  by 
the  enemy,  while  the  mother,  springing  to  its  rescue, 
is  nearly  certain  to  share  the  same  fate.  Then  it  is 
that  the  battle  begins  in  real  earnest.  The  mares 
form  a  circle,  within  which  the  foals  take  shelter.  We 
have  seen  pictures  in  which  the  horses  are  represented 
in  a  circle,  presenting  their  hind  hoofs  to  the  wolves, 
who  thus  appear  to  have  the  free  choice  to  fight,  or  to 
let  it  alone.  Such  pictures  are  the  mere  result  of  ima- 
gination, and  bear  very  little  resemblance  to  the  real- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  119 

ity  ;  for  tne  wolf  has,  in  general,  to  pay  much  more 
dearly  for  his  partiality  to  horseflesh.  The  horses, 
when  they  attack  wolves,  do  not  turn  their  tails  to- 
wards them,  but  charge  upon  them  in  a  solid  phalanx, 
tearing  them  with  their  teeth,  and  trampling  on  them 
with  their  feet.  The  stallions  do  not  fall  into  the  pha- 
lanx, but  gallop  about  with  streaming  tails,  and  curled 
manes,  and  seem  to  act,  at  once,  as  generals,  trumpet- 
ers, and  standard  bearers.  When  they  see  a  wolf, 
they  rush  upon  him  with  reckless  fury,  mouth  to 
mouth,  or  if  they  use  their  feet  as  weapons  of  defence, 
it  is  always  with  their  front,  and  not  the  hinder  hoof, 
that  the  attack  is  made.  With  one  blow  the  stallion 
often  kills  his  enemy,  or  stuns  him.  If  so,  he  snatch- 
es the  body  up  with  his  teeth,  and  flings  it  to  the 
mares,  who  trample  upon  it  till  it  becomes  hard  to  say 
what  kind  of  animal  the  skin  belonged  to.  If  the  stal- 
lion, however,  fail  to  strike  a  home  blow  at  the  first 
onset,  he  is  likely  to  fight  a  losing  battle,  for  eight  or 
ten  hungry  wolves  fasten  on  his  throat,  and  never  quit 
him  till  they  have  torn  him  to  the  ground :  and  if  the 
horse  be  prompt  and  skilful  in  attack,  the  wolf  is  not 
deficient  in  sagacity,  but  watches  for  every  little  ad- 
vantage, and  is  quick  to  avail  himself  of  it ;  but  let 
him  not  hope,  even  if  he  succeed  in  killing  a  horse, 
that  he  will  be  allowed  leisure  to  pick  the  bones  :  the 
taboon  never  fails  to  take  ample  vengeance,  and  the 
battle  almost  invariably  terminates  in  the  complete 


120  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

discomfiture  of  the  wolves,  though  not,  perhaps,  till 
more  than  one  stallion  has  had  a  leg  permanently  dis- 
abled, or  has  had  his  side  marked  for  life  with  the  im- 
press of  his  enemy's  teeth. 

These  grand  battles  happen  but  seldom,  and  when 
they  do  occur,  it  is  probably  always  against  the  wolf's 
wish.  His  system  of  warfare  is  a  predatory  one,  and 
his  policy  is  rather  to  surprise  outposts,  than  to 
meditate  a  general  attack.  He  trusts  more  to  his 
cunning  than  his  strength.  He  will  creep  cautiously 
through  the  grass,  taking  special  care  to  keep  to 
leeward  of  the  taboon,  and  will  remain  concealed  in 
ambush,  till  he  perceive  a  mare  and  her  foal  grazing 
a  little  apart  from  the  rest.  Even  then  he  makes  no 
attempt  to  spring  upon  his  prey,  but  keeps  creeping 
nearer  and  nearer,  with  his  head  leaning  on  his  fore 
feet,  and  wagging  his  tail  in  a  friendly  manner,  to 
imitate,  as  much  as  possible,  the  movements  and 
gestures  of  a  watchdog.  If  the  mare,  deceived  by 
the  treacherous  pantomime,  venture  near  enough  to 
the  enemy,  he  will  spring  at  her  throat,  and  despatch 
her  before  she  have  time  to  raise  an  alarm  ;  then, 
seizing  on  the  foal,  he  will  make  off  with  his  booty, 
and  be  out  of  sight  perhaps  before  either  herd  or 
herdsman  suspect  his  presence.  It  is  not  often, 
however,  that  the  wolf  succeeds  in  obtaining  so  easy 
a  victory.  If  the  mare  detect  him,  an  instant  alarm 
is  raised,  and  should  the  tabunshick  be  near,  the  wolf 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  121 

seldom  fails  to  enrich  him  with  a  skin,  for  wbjch  the 
fur  merchant  is  at  all  times  willing  to  pay  his  ten  or 
twelve  rubles.  The  wolfs  only  chance,  on  such 
occasions,  is  to  make  for  the  first  ravine,  down  which 
he  rolls  head  foremost,  a  gymnastic  feat  that  the 
tabunshick  on  his  horse  cannot  venture  to  imitate.  \ 

As  the  summer  draws  on,  the  wolf  becomes  less 
troublesome  to  the  taboon ;  but  a  season  now  begins 
of  severe  suffering  for  the  poor  horses,  who  have  more 
perhaps  to  endure  from  the  thirst  of  summer,  than 
from  the  hunger  of  winter.  The  heat  becomes  in- 
tolerable, and  shade  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  save  what 
the  animals  can  themselves  create,  by  gathering 
together  in  little  groups,  each  seeking  to  place  the 
body  of  his  neighbor  between  himself  and  the  burning 
rays  of  a  merciless  sun.  The  tabunshick  often  lays 
himself  in  the  centre  of  the  group,  for  he  also  has 
nowhere  else  a  shady  couch  to  hope  for. 

The  autumn  again  is  a  season  of  enjoyment.  The 
plains  are  anew  covered  with  green,  the  springs  yield 
once  more  an  abundant  supply  of  water,  and  the 
horses  gather  strength  at  this  period  of  abundance,  to 
prepare  themselves  for  the  sufferings  and  privations  of 
winter.  In  autumn,  for  the  first  time  in  the  year,  the 
taboon  is  called  on  to  work,  but  the  work  is  not  much 
more  severe  than  the  exertions  which  the  restless 
creatures  are  daily  imposing  upon  themselves,  while 
7 


122  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

romping  and  rioting  about  on  the  Steppe.  The  work 
in  question  is  the  thrashing  of  the  corn. 

A  thrashing-floor,  of  several  hundred  yards  square, 
is  made,  by  cutting  away  the  turf,  and  beating  the 
ground  into  a  hard,  solid  surface.  The  whole  is 
enclosed  by  a  railing,  with  a  gate  to  let  the  horses  in 
and  out.  On  such  a  floor,  supposing  the  taboon  to 
consist  of  a  thousand  horses,  five  hundred  score  of 
sheaves  will  be  laid  down  at  once.  The  taboon  is  then 
formed  into  two  divisions,  and  five  hundred  steeds 
are  driven  into  the  enclosure,  stallions,  mares,  foals, 
and  all,  for  when  in,  the  more  riotous  they  are  the 
better  the  work  will  be  done.  The  gate  is  closed, 
and  then  begins  a  ball  of  which  it  requires  a  lively 
imagination  to  conceive  a  picture.  The  drivers  act 
as  musicians,  and  their  formidable  harabnicks  are  the 
fiddles  that  keep  up  the  dance  without  intermission. 

The  horses  terrified,  partly  by  the  crackling  straw 
under  their  feet,  and  partly  by  the  incessant  cracking 
of  the  whip  over  their  heads,  dart  half  frantic  from 
one  extremity  to  the  other  of  their  temporary  prison. 
Millions  of  grains  are  flying  about  in  the  air,  and  the 
laborers  without  have  enough  to  do  to  toss  back  the 
sheaves  that  are  flung  over  the  railing  by  the  prancing, 
hard  working  thrashers  within.  This  continues  for 
about  an  hour.  The  horses  are  then  let  out,  the  corn 
turned,  and  the  same  performance  repeated  three 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  123 

times  before  noon.  By  that  time  a  thousand  sheffel 
of  corn  have  been  thrashed,  after  a  fashion  that  looks 
more  like  a  holiday  diversion,  than  a  hard  day's  work ; 
but  in  such  an  operation,  more  corn  is  lost  than  is 
gained  on  many  large  farms  in  Germany. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Cossacks. — The  Circassians. — The  Mamelukes. 

UNDER  the  name  of  Cossacks  of  the  Bug,  of  the 
Don,  of  the  Ural,  of  Orenburgh,  of  Astrakhan — 
Cossacks  of  the  Black  Sea — and  Siberian  Cossacks 
— this  hardy  and  spirited  race  is  disseminated  over  all 
the  southern  portions  of  European  and  Asiatic  Russia. 
Every  man  of  them,  between  the  ages  of  fifteen  and 
fifty,  is  a  soldier,  eager  for  war,  and  ready  to  engage  in 
it,  no  matter  at  what  extremity  of  the  earth.  The 
Russian  Empire  is  undoubtedly  indebted  to  these 
tribes  for  the  vast  extension  of  its  dominion  ;  and 
Europe  has  to  thank  them  for  the  preservation  of  her 
civilisation,  when  threatened  by  the  ruthless  Tartar 
invaders.  Nature  seems  to  have  fitted  the  Cossack  to 
become  the  conqueror  of  the  Tribes  of  the  Desert  by 
endowments  as  peculiar  as  those  which  enable  the 
camel  to  traverse  it.  Distance  and  climate  vanish 
before  his  wandering  and  adventurous  spirit :  the  re- 
gions where  the  burning  sun  destroys  all  life  and 
vegetation,  or  those  where  "the  frost  burns  frore 
and  cold  produces  the  effect  of  fire,"  have  never  stayed 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  125 

his  purpose,  or  arrested  his  onward  march.  With  sin- 
gular versatility  he  adapts  himself  to  all  outward  cir- 
cumstances ;  as  occasion  requires,  he  combines  with 
his  warlike  profession  the  labors  of  the  husbandman, 
the  fisher,  the  herdsman,  and  the  trader,  and  readily 
abandons  one  character  to  adopt  the  other  whenever 
it  may  be  needful.  It  is  not  only  at  the  point  of  the 
lance  he  has  subdued  the  wild  inhabitants  of  so  large 
a  portion  of  the  globe  ;  but  by  his  wonderful  facility 
of  adapting  himself  to  the  customs  of  the  wilderness, 
and  establishing  a  commercial  intercourse  with  its 
fiercest  hordes.  It  required  a  mixture  of  the  reck- 
less and  wandering  spirit  of  the  sons  of  Ishmael, 
with  the  intense  love  of  gain  peculiar  to  the  children 
of  Israel,  both  of  which  his  character  exhibits,  to 
form  the  wandering  merchant,  who  could  trade  and 
defend  his  merchandise,  and  who  would  penetrate,  to 
effect  his  purpose,  a  thousand  miles  away  from  his 
station,  either  towards  the  hyperborean  regions,  or 
through  the  parched  plains  of  the  naked  Steppes. 

A  Russian  Tsar  might  speedily  collect  from 
amongst  this  people  a  larger  and  more  formidable 
force  of  cavalry  than  the  whole  of  united  Europe 
could  bring  together ;  and  in  all  the  regular  cavalry 
of  the  Russian  line,  there  never  was  a  horseman, 
however  laboriously  drilled,  whom  the  untutored 
Cossack  would  not  charge,  wheel  round,  and  over 
come,  though  armed  cap-a-pie,  with  his  mere  nagaica, 


126  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

or  whip.  The  Cossacks  are  invaluable  as  light 
cavalry;  they  are  the  most  daring  and  intelligent 
foragers  in  the  world,  who  take  care  of  themselves 
by  instinct,  and  without  taxing  the  foresight  or  the 
ingenuity  of  the  general.  Spreading  on  every  side, 
they  strike  terror  into  the  neighborhood,  and  ren- 
der it  almost  impossible  to  surprise  a  Russian  force. 
Brought  up  amongst  turbulent  tribes,  the  vigilant 
Cossack  never  exposes  himself  to  be  taken  unawares, 
as  all  other  light  troops  do,  when  scattered  abroad  ;  and 
thus  he  can  act  even  in  the  midst  of  a  guerilla  pea- 
santry. 

France  still  remembers  with  shuddering  rage  the 
two  irruptions  of  those  terrible  barbarians  upon  her 
soil.  The  fearful  image  of  another  Cossack  invasion 
has  been  embodied  by  Beranger,  the  greatest  poet  of 
France,  in  his  "  Chant  du  Cosaque,"  thus  vigorously 
translated  by  "  Father  Prout :" — 

Come,  arouse  thee  up,  my  gallant  horse,  and  bear  thy  rider  on  ! 
The  comrade  thou,  and  the  friend  I  trow,  of  the  dweller  on  the 

Don: 
Pillage  and  death  have  spread  their  wings;  'tis  the  hour  to  hie 

thee  forth, 

And  with  thy  hoofs  an  echo  wake  to  the  trumpets  of  the  North. 
Nor  gems,  nor  gold  do  men  behold  upon  thy  saddle  tree  ; 
But  earth  affords  the  wealth  of  lords  for  thy  master  and  for  thee. 
Then  proudly  neigh,  my  charger  grey  !  Oh  !  thy  chest  is  broad  and 

ample, 
And  thy  hoofs  shall  prance  o'er  the  fields  of  France,  and  the  pride 

of  her  heroes  trample. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  187 

Europe  is  weak,  she  hath  grown  old,  her  bulwarks  are  lain  low ; 
She  is  loth  to  hear  the  voice  of  war,  she  shrinketh  from  a  foe : 
Come,  in  our  turn,  let  us  sojourn  in  her  goodly  haunts  of  joy, 
In  the  pillared  porch  to  wave  the  torch,  and  her  palaces  destroy 
Proud  as  when   first  thou  slak'st  thy  thirst  in  the  flow  of  con- 
quered Seine, 

Ay,  thou  shalt  lave  within  that  wave  thy  blood-red  flank  again  : 
Then  proudly  neigh,  &c. 


Kings  are  beleaguered  on  their  thrones  by  their  own  vassal  crew, 
And  in  their  den  quake  noblemen,  and  priests  are  bearded  too. 
And  loud  they  yelp  for  the  Cossack's  help  to  keep  their  bondsmen 

down, 
And  they  think  it  meet,  while  they  kiss  our  feet,  to  wear  a  tyrant's 

crown. 
The  sceptre  now  to  my  lance  shall  bow,  and  the  crosier  and  the 

cross, 
All  shall  bend  alike,  when  I  lift  my  pike,  and  aloft  that  sceptre 

toss. 

Then  proudly  neigh,  &c. 


In  a  night  of  storm,  I  have  seen  a  form,  and  the  figure  was  a  giant, 
And  his  eye  was  bent  on  the  Cossack's  tent,  and  his  look  was  all 

defiant. 
Kingly  his  crest,   and  toward  the  West  with  his  battleaxe  he 

pointed ; 
And  the  form  I  saw  was — ATTILA — of  this  earth    the  scourge 

anointed : 
From  the  Cossack's  camp  let  the   horseman's  tramp  the  coming 

crash  announce ; 
Let  the  vulture  whet  its  beak  sharp  set  on  the  carrion  field  to 

pounce ! 

And  fiercely  neigh,  &c. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

What  boots  old  Europe's  boasted  fame,  on  which  she  sets  reliance, 

When  the  North  shall  launch  its  avalanche  on  her  works  of  art 
and  science  ? 

Hath  she  not  wept  her  cities  swept  by  our  herds  of  swarming  stal- 
lions, 

And  tower  and  arch  crushed  in  the  march  of  our  barbarous  bat- 
talions ? 

Can  we  not  wield  our  fathers'  shield,  the  same  war-hatchet  handle  ? 

Do  our  blades  want  length,  or  the  reapers  strength,  for  the  harvest 
of  the  Vandal  ? 

Then  fiercely  neigh,  my  charger  grey  !  Oh  !  thy  chest  is  broad 
and  ample, 

And  thy  hoofs  shall  prance  o'er  the  fields  of  France,  and  the  pride 
of  her  heroes  trample. 

The  horses  of  the  Cossacks,  bred  on  the  Steppes, 
though  far  inferior  to  those  of  the  Circassians,  are, 
nevertheless,  a  serviceable  race,  strong-boned,  well- 
limbed,  and  with  a  good  proportion  of  blood ;  though 
their  forms  are  angular  and  inelegant,  and  their  necks 
ewed,  they  are  fast  and  hardy.  The  Cossacks,  like 
all  equestrian  nations,  ride  with  very  short  stirrups, 
and  they  only  use  the  snaffle  bridle. 

Why  is  it  that  all  the  regular  armies  of  Europe, 
including  that  of  England,  have  adopted  a  style  of 
riding  which  has  no  one  advantage  except  that  of 
pleasing  the  eye,  and  in  reality,  only  the  eye  of  those 
unacquainted  with  the  true  principles  of  equitation  ? 
A  rider  sitting  bolt  upright,  with  his  legs  at  full 
stretch,  is  in  the  worst  possible  position  for  grasping 
the  animal's  body  by  the  pressure  of  his  thighs,  knees, 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  129 

and  calves,   for  exercising  an  easy   control  over  the 
mouth,  and  favoring  the  efforts  of  the  horse  by  the 
motions  of   the   rider's   body.     According   to  all  the 
varieties  of  the  long  or  military  system  of  riding,  the 
horse  requires   as  much  teaching  as  the  rider  ;  and 
nearly  every  horse,  of  a  vigorous  and  spirited  breed, 
is  ruined  by  this  course  of  teaching.     "  All  equestrian 
nations  ride  with  the  bended  leg,  or  as  it  is  commonly 
termed,  short,  simply  because  experience  has  taught 
them  its  advantages.     The  English  jockeys,  fox-hunt- 
ers, and  steeple-chasers,  who  get  the  utmost  speed  out 
of  their  horse,  who  teach  him  to  traverse,  and  assist 
him  over  the  most  tremendous  leaps,  all  ride  short. 
The  South  American  Indians — men  who  live  and  die, 
as  it  were,  on  the  backs  of  their  horses — the  Moors  of 
the  coast  of  Barbary — and  the  Bedouin  Arabs  of  the 
Desert,  all  ride  short.     The  extinct  body  of  Mame- 
lukes, who  were  Circassians,  and  the  tribes  of  Cir- 
cassians   now    inhabiting    the    Caucasus — the    most 
dexterous  men  in  the   universe,  in  the  use  of  their 
arms,  and  the  management  of  their  horses,  for  all  the 
purposes  of  combat ;  who  stop  them  in  their  wildest 
gallop,  who  wheel  them   round  a  hat,  and  who,  not 
riding  more  than  an  average  of  eleven  stone,  can  lift 
from  the  saddle  the  most  brawny  and  burly  riding-mas- 
ter as  if  he  were  a  child — these   men  not  only  use 
nothing  but  a  snaffle,  but  actually  double  up  the  leg 
and  thigh  almost  in  the  following  manner :   <     One 
7* 


130  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

moment's  examination  of  the  limb  in  this  position,  will, 
by  showing  the  muscles,  both  of  the  calf  and  inner 
thigh,  brought  to  their  utmost  prominence,  at  once  ex- 
plain how  singularly  the  powers  of  adhesion  must  be 
increased  by  it. 

"  The  seat  of  a  Cossack,  who  is  accustomed  to  back 
a  horse  from  his  earliest  childhood,  is  about  as  short  as 
that  of  the  English  fox-hunter.  It  is  amusing,  in  the 
sham  fights  of  Krasnoe  Zelo,  to  see  the  contemptuous 
ease  with  which  a  single  Cossack  forager  will  disen- 
gage himself  from  a  dozen  or  two  of  cuirassiers  of  the 
guard,  raining  the  blows  of  his  lance-shaft  about  their 
helms  and  shoulders,  loosening  in  their  saddles  those 
who  attempt  to  stop  him,  and  then  getting  away  from 
them  like  a  bird,  with  a  laugh  of  derision  in  answer  to 
the  curses  they  mutter  after  him." — Revelations  of 
Russia. 

From  the  perpetual  snows  of  Mount  Elbrouz,  the 
highest  peak  of  the  Caucasus,  two  rivers  take  their 
rise,  the  Kouban  and  the  Terek.  The  former  flows 
westward  to  the  Black  Sea,  while  the  latter  runs  in  an 
opposite  direction  into  the  Caspian.  The  two  together 
form  a  natural  barrier  against  the  inroads  of  the  Cau- 
casian mountaineers,  who  are  hemmed  in  between  the 
respective  shores  of  those  great  waters.  But  this  bar- 
rier, probably,  all  the  Russian  forces  would  be  unable 
to  defend,  were  it  not  for  the  Tehornomorskie,  or  Black 
Sea  Cossacks,  the  most  daring  and  warlike  of  their 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  131 

nation,  and  alone  fitted  to  cope  with  the  Circassians,  to 
whom  only  they  are  inferior.  Though  in  the  predatory 
excursions,  which  have  desolated  both  sides  of  the 
border,  these  Cossacks  have,  from  time  to  time,  car- 
ried off  and  intermarried  with  Circassian  women, 
many  of  whose  customs,  habits,  and  part  of  whose 
language  and  national  costume  they  have  adopted  ;  still 
the  semi-relationship  between  the  two  races  has  in 
nowise  softened  the  unutterable  hatred  they  bear  each 
other.  Nothing  but  the  fierce  hostility  of  the  Cos- 
sacks could  preserve  all  the  Russian  establishments  on 
the  northern  bank  of  the  Kouban  from  utter  destruc- 
tion, by  the  inroads  of  the  mountaineers,  whose  fleet 
and  vigorous  horses  bear  them  vast  distances  with  in- 
conceivable rapidity.  Even  now,  guarded  as  it  is, 
they  sometimes  force  the  passage,  and  mark  their 
track  with  fire  and  blood,  retaliating  on  the  flat  lands 
the  injuries  which  the  Russian  columns  have  inflicted 
on  their  own  hills  and  dales. 

The  Circassians  are  not  tall  in  stature,  but  exqui- 
sitely proportioned,  and  of  a  strength  and  agility  which 
constant  exercise  has  wonderfully  developed.  The 
costume  of  these  brave  mountaineers  is  such  as  to  set 
off  the  nervous  though  delicate  symmetry  of  their 
make.  It  consists  of  a  close-fitting  frock  coat,  with 
rows  of  cartridge  pockets  sewn  upon  the  breast,  and 
tight  trowsers,  both  vestments  being  generally  of  some 
subdued  and  sober  hue.  All  the  magnificence  dis- 


132  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

played  is  in  the  arms  and  trappings  of  the  steed.  The 
head-dress  worn  in  peace,  is  a  round  cap,  surrounded 
by  a  thick  border  of  black  or  white  sheep-skin  fur. 
The  war  garb  in  which  the  Circassian  is  oftenest  seen, 
is  remarkable  by  the  addition  of  an  iron  helm,  surmount- 
ed by  a  spike,  in  lieu  of  a  plume  ;  a  shirt  of  exquisitely 
finished  mail,  falling  from  the  helmet  over  his  shoulders, 
like  a  lady's  lace  veil  ;  and  steel  armlets,  which  seem 
to  form  part  of  the  forgotten  gauntlet  worn  by  the 
knights  of  old. 

Such  is  the  outward  appearance  of  that  hardy  and 
intrepid  race  of  warriors,  who  have,  for  fifty  years, 
maintained  inviolate  the  freedom  of  their  mountain 
land,  withstood  the  continuous  efforts  of  Russia,  and 
baffled  all  the  force  and  cunning  of  that  gigantic  em- 
pire. Their  small  but  beautiful  horses,  which  are 
thorough-bred  (that  is,  derived  in  almost  uncontami- 
nated  purity  from  the  Arab),  are  so  accustomed  to 
their  rugged  mountains  as  to  carry  the  rider  over  places 
where  he  could  not  scramble  on  foot.  Sure-footed 
and  agile  as  the  chamois,  they  gallop  down  the  most 
precipitous  descents,  springing  from  rock  to  rock  in  a 
manner  incredible  to  those  who  have  not  witnessed 
with  their  own  eyes  how  the  nature  of  the  horse  adapts 
itself  to  the  localities  in  which  he  is  bred. 

As  the  tribes  of  the  Caucasus  are  often  at  war  with 
each  other,  Russia  succeeds  occasionally  in  procuring 
a  hollow  show  of  submission  from  some  of  them. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  133 

The  Emperor  has  even  a  regiment  of  Circassian 
cavalry,  all  the  members  of  which  are  princes  or  no- 
bles, and  may  be  considered  in  the  light  of  hostages. 
Even  under  the  yoke  of  foreign  service,  these  men 
retain  their  fiery,  independent  spirit,  and  the  imperial 
despot  himself  finds  it  necessary  to  treat  them  with 
much  indulgence ;  for  there  is  an  indomitable  obsti- 
nacy about  them,  with  which  it  is  considered  most 
politic  not  to  meddle.  They  mix  very  little  with  the 
Russians,  but  live  exclusively  in  their  own  circle, 
exciting  an  amusing  degree  of  awe  on  the  tame  popu- 
lation which  surrounds  them.  The  Russian,  in  all 
his  pride  of  uniform,  whether  he  be  officer,  soldier,  or 
policeman,  has  a  salutary  dread  of  interfering  with 
this  fierce  race,  so  sensitive  to  insult,  and  so  prompt 
to  revenge  it.  In  the  street,  whenever  you  see  the 
crowd  carefully  making  way,  you  may  be  sure  there 
is  either  a  general,  a  policeman,  or  a  Circassian  com- 
ing. 

Every  shot  from  the  rifles  of  these  wild  riders  tells  ; 
and  though  their  pistols  are  but  indifferent,  yet  at  full 
gallop  they  seldom  miss  their  aim  at  a  piece  of  paper 
lying  on  the  ground.  Some  of  the  more  dexterous 
hit  with  equal  certainty  a  silver  ruble  piece,  or  strike 
the  earth  so  close  to  it  as  to  make  it  fly  into  the  air. 
With  the  rifle  they  practise  the  Parthian  mode  of 
warfare,  shooting  behind  them  as  they  fly;  and,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  turn  round  more  readily,  and  place 


134  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

themselves  in  the  only  position  in  which  it  is  possible 
to  acquire  any  accuracy  of  aim  from  the  back  of  a 
galloping  horse,  they  ride  with  one  stirrup  longer  than 
the  other.  They  also  ride  with  a  loose  rein,  which 
is  found  to  be  indispensable  to  secure  the  safe  footing 
of  their  steeds  over  the  precipitous  ground  which  they 
traverse,  because  it  leaves  the  animal  to  trust  entirely 
to  his  own  judgment  and  exertion.  But  on  the  plain 
this  habit  greatly  impairs  its  speed,  as  the  natural 
tendency  of  the  horse  is  to  take  short  rapid  steps 
instead  of  long  sweeping  strides,  which  he  can  only 
venture  on  when  accustomed,  by  the  assisting  hand 
of  his  rider,  to  gather  himself  together  like  the  bent 
bow,  ready  for  fresh  distension. 

The  warfare  waged  by  the  Russians  against  the 
mountaineers  of  the  Caucasus  is  one  of  blockade 
merely ;  the  invading  armies  have  never  felt  strong 
enough  to  advance  beyond  the  protection  of  their  forts 
in  the  low  grounds,  or  to  make  any  decisive  inroads 
into  the  territory  of  the  natives.  Death  or  captivity 
is  the  invariable  fate  of  every  Russian  bold  enough  to 
separate  two  hundred  yards  from  his  column,  even  if 
no  enemy  should  have  previously  been  in  sight. 
Often,  when  a  Russian  force  is  on  the  march,  the 
Circassians  dash  through  the  lines  and  kill  or  carry 
off  the  officers,  who  consider  all  resistance  so  hope- 
less that,  on  such  occasions,  they  seldom  offer  any. 
The  mountaineers,  penetrating  their  line  of  skirmish- 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  135 

ers,  have  been  seen  thus  to  pull  them  from  their 
horses,  and  dash  away  with  them  as  a  cat  carries  off  a 
mouse. 

The  famous  Mamelukes  of  Egypt,  the  last  of  whom 
were  treacherously  entrapped  and  murdered  by  the 
present  viceroy,  Mehemet  Ali,  were  all  of  them  na- 
tives of  the  Caucasus,  who  had  been  sold  as  slaves  in 
their  youth.  Having  been  trained  to  arms,  and  eman- 
cipated, they  continued  to  serve  their  patron,  the  Bey, 
as  children  of  his  house ;  and  such  was  the  singular 
constitution  of  this  militia,  that  no  man  was  admissible 
into  it  except  as  a  purchased  slave.  Living  in  luxury, 
upon  the  wealth  wrung  from  an  oppressed  people,  they 
were  as  insolent,  turbulent,  prodigal,  and  rapacious  as 
any  soldiery  that  ever  existed  ;  but,  at  least,  they 
were  brave,  and  excellently  skilled  in  the  use  of  their 
weapons,  which  constituted  the  sole  business  of  their 
lives.  Their  martial  exercises  are  thus  described  by 
Volney  : — "  Every  day,  early  in  the  morning,  the 
greater  part  of  them  resort  to  a  plain,  outside  of 
Cairo,  and  there,  riding  full  speed,  exercise  them- 
selves in  drawing  out  their  carbine  expeditiously  from 
the  bandalier,  discharging  it  with  good  aim,  and  then 
throwing  it  under  their  thigh,  to  seize  a  pistol,  which 
they  fire  and  throw  over  their  shoulder,  immediately 
firing  a  second  and  throwing  it  in  the  same  manner, 
trusting  to  the  string  by  which  they  are  fastened, 
without  losing  time  to  return  them  to  their  place. 


136  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

The  Beys,  who  are  present,  encourage  them ;  and 
whoever  breaks  the  earthen  vessel,  which  serves  by 
way  of  butt,  receives  great  commendations,  and  a 
reward  in  money.  They  practise  also  the  use  of  the 
sabre,  and  especially  the  coup  de  revers,  which  cuts 
upwards,  and  is  the  most  difficult  to  parry.  Their 
blades  are  so  keen,  and  they  handle  them  so  well,  that 
many  of  them  can  cut  a  clew  of  wet  cotton  like  a 
piece  of  butter.  They  likewise  shoot  with  bows  and 
arrows,  though  they  no  longer  use  them  in  battle. 
But  their  favorite  exercise  is  throwing  the  djereed. 
This  word,  which  properly  means  a  reed,  is  generally 
used  to  signify  any  staff  thrown  by  the  hand,  after  the 
manner  of  the  Roman  pilum.  Instead  of  a  staff,  the 
Mamelukes  make  use  of  branches  of  the  palm  tree, 
fresh  stripped ;  they  are  in  form  like  the  stalk  of  an 
artichoke,  are  four  feet  long,  and  weigh  five  or  six 
pounds.  Armed  with  these,  the  cavaliers  enter  the 
lists,  and,  riding  full  speed,  throw  them  at  each  other 
from  a  considerable  distance.  The  assailant,  as  soon 
as  he  has  thrown,  turns  his  horse,  and  his  antagonist 
pursues  and  throws  in  his  turn.  The  horses,  accus- 
tomed to  this  exercise,  second  their  master  so  well 
that  they  seem  also  to  share  in  the  pleasure.  But  the 
pleasure  is  attended  with  danger ;  for  some  can  dart 
the  djereed  with  so  much  force  as  frequently  to  wound, 
and  sometimes  mortally.  Ill-fated  was  the  man  who 
could  not  escape  the  djereed  of  Ali  Bey  !" 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  137 

Baumgarten,  an  early  traveller  in  the  East,  gives 
the  following  account  of  Mameluke  exercises  per- 
formed in  presence  of  the  Sultan,  who  sat  in  a  balcony 
of  the  palace  overlooking  the  field  :  "  On  the  side  of 
the  castle,  there  was  a  large  and  plain  field,  which  had 
been  before  prepared  for  this  purpose ;  about  the 
middle  of  which,  on  one  side,  there  were  three  artifi- 
cial hillocks  of  sand,  about  fifty  paces  distant  from 
one  another  ;  and  on  the  top  of  each  of  them,  there 
was  fixed  a  spear,  bearing  the  mark  which  the  archers 
were  to  shoot  at ;  and  the  like  was  on  the  other  side  ; 
so  that  in  the  middle  betwixt  them,  there  was  as  much 
room  left,  as  might  serve  for  six  horses  to  run  abreast. 
In  this  plain  a  great  number  of  young  men  clad  in  silk, 
that  was  richly  embroidered,  with  their  usual  light 
arms,  mounted  their  sprightly  horses,  and  began  their 
games  in  this  manner  : — 

"  First :  They  ran  at  a  full  career  betwixt  the  first 
two  of  these  hillocks,  and  dexterously  shot  their  arrows 
at  the  marks  that  were  fixed  to  the  tops  of  the  spears, 
both  on  the  right  and  left  hand. 

"Next  they  rode  in  the  same  manner  out  between  the 
other  two,  and  filled  the  marks  with  their  arrows. 

"  Just  so  with  the  same  speed  they  ran  through  the 
rest,  and  shot  their  arrows  so  artfully,  that  not  one  of 
them  missed  his  aim. 

"After  these  young  men  had  performed  their  parts,  and 
had  left  none  of  the  marks  untouched,  every  one  took 


139  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

his  little  spear  that  hung  behind  his  back  (as  if  they 
minded  to  act,  not  at  a  distance,  but  hand  to  hand), 
and  retired  a  little  out  of  the  way,  till  the  rest  of  the 
youth  had  performed  as  they  had  done.  After  which 
all  of  them,  in  the  same  order  as  they  began,  marched 
through  the  same  way  they  had  rode,  but  now  a  slow 
pace,  with  their  standards  before  them,  as  in  triumph, 
till  they  came  to  the  place  from  which  they  had 
set  out,  and  after  they  they  had  prepared  themselves 
for  another  kind  of  exercise,  came  out  again  in  a  little 
time. 

"  Some  of  them,  while  their  horses  were  running  with 
loose  reins,  rode  up  and  down,  shooting  their  arrows  at 
the  marks  before  and  behind,  some  one,  others  two, 
and  some  three. 

"  Others,  while  their  horses  were  at  their  full  speed, 
would  leap  off  three  times,  and  (the  horse  still 
running)  mount  again,  and  in  the  meantime  be  shoot- 
ing their  arrows,  and  never  any  of  them  miss  his  aim  : 
others,  not  sitting  in  their  saddles,  but  standing  up, 
while  the  horse  seemed  to  fly,  would  hit  the  mark 
exactly  :  others,  while  their  horses  were  at  their  fall 
gallop,  would  thrice  unbend  their  bows,  and  toss  them 
about  their  heads  like  a  whip,  and  again  bend  them, 
and  shoot  without  ever  missing  the  mark.  Some  of 
the  riders  would  throw  themselves  three  times  back- 
wards off  their  horses,  and  would  vault  into  the  saddle 
again,  let  the  horse  run  as  fast  as  he  would,  and  in  the 


„     THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  139 

meantime  let  fly  their  arrows  and  hit  the  mark  as  oft 
as  they  shot.  Some  would  spring  out  of  their 
saddles,  that  were  fast  tied  to  the  horses,  and  would 
untie  them,  and  then  shoot :  thrice  they  would  tie  on 
their  saddles,  and  as  oft  pierce  the  mark,  the  horse  all 
the  while  running  at  his  full  speed.  Sitting  after 
their  usual  manner,  they  would  jump  behind  their 
saddles,  and  let  their  heads  hang  down,  then  raise 
themselves  up,  and  get  into  their  saddles.  Thrice 
they  would  do  this,  and  as  oft  let  fly  their  arrows 
without  ever  missing  the  mark.  Or  sitting  in  their 
saddles,  they  would  lay  their  heads  backwards  on  their 
horse's  croup,  and  taking  his  tail,  hold  it  in  their  teeth, 
then  raise  themselves  up,  and  shoot  as  sure  as  ever 
they  did. 

"  Others  would  sit  between  drawn,  sharp  pointed 
swords,  three  on  either  side,  and  in  very  thin  clothes, 
so  that  if  they  had  but  budged,  ever  so  little,  to  one 
side  or  the  other,  they  must  have  been  wounded ;  yet 
so  dexterously  did  they  move  backwards  and  forwards, 
that  (as  if  there  had  been  danger  on  either  side)  they 
were  always  sure  to  pierce  the  mark. 

"  Among  all  the  young  men  who  performed  these  ex- 
ercises, there  was  only  one  found,  who,  with  his  feet 
loose,  could  stand  upon  the  backs  of  two  of  the  swift- 
est horses  at  their  full  speed,  and  let  fly  three  arrows 
forwards  and  backwards.  There  was  another,  who 
could  sit  on  a  horse  without  a  saddle  or  bridle,  and  at 


140  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

every  mark  spring  up  on  his  legs,  and  hit  the  marks, 
both  on  his  right  and  left  hand,  and  then  sit  down 
again,  repeating  the  same  at  the  second  and  third 
marks,  and  thereby  discovering  an  incredible  agility 
and  skilfulness  at  shooting.  There  was  a  third,  who 
was  the  only  one  among  them  that  could,  while  he 
was  sitting  on  a  bare-backed  horse,  so  soon  as  ever 
he  came  to  the  marks,  lay  his  back  close  to  the 
horse's,  then  stretching  his  feet  up  in  the  air,  start 
upon  his  feet  in  a  moment,  and  fix  his  arrow  in  the 
mark. 

"  At  last,  when  the  marks  were  quite  loaded  with 
arrows,  the  master  of  the  youths,  whow  as  an  aged 
and  grey  haired  man,  taking  the  marks  in  his  hand, 
first  held  them  up  as  high  as  he  could,  then  threw 
them  down  to  the  ground.  Upon  which  his  scholars 
showered  down  their  lances  and  arrows  upon  them,  as 
if  they  had  been  putting  an  end  to  the  lives  of  their 
wounded  enemies,  and  then  went  prancing  up  and 
down  by  way  of  triumph.  Among  these  young  men 
there  were  three,  who  fell  from  their  horses  ;  one  of 
whom  expiring  as  soon  as  he  fell,  lest  a  formal  funeral 
might  disorder  the  rest,  was  immediately  carried  off 
and  buried.  The  other  two  being  almost  dead,  were 
likewise  carried  off  for  fear  of  marring  the  show.  The 
rest  of  these  horsemen,  that  they  might  put  an  end  to 
the  games,  taking  their  lances  in  their  hands,  and 
putting  spurs  to  their  horses,  rode  up  to  the  marks 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  141 

that  were  still  remaining,  and  pierced  them  with  their 
points  like  trophies.  It  was  a  fine  sight  to  behold 
these  tall  young  men,  handsomely  clothed  and  armed, 
with  a  wonderful  address,  performing  those  exercises 
on  the  back  of  a  horse  at  his  full  speed,  which 
others  could  hardly  do  standing  on  firm  ground  ;  and 
which  were  equally  strange  to  see,  and  hard  to  be 
believed." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Bela. — A  Story  of  the  Caucasus. 

HAVING  followed  the  Circassians  in  their  transformed 
appearance  as  Egyptian  Mamelukes,  we  now  return 
from  this  digression,  to  their  mountain  homes.  There 
is  a  tale  by  Lermentof,  a  young  Russian  author,  who 
died  prematurely  about  four  years  ago,  in  which  the 
character  and  habits  of  the  mountaineers  are  illustrated 
with  great  dramatic  force.  As  the  story,  which  is  full 
of  human  interest,  turns  also  in  a  great  degree  on  the 
fortunes  of  a  horse,  it  comes  fairly  within  the  scope 
of  the  present  work  :  we  shall  therefore  present  it  here 
in  a  condensed  form.  In  the  original  it  takes  the  shape 
of  a  conversation  between  the  author,  and  the  com- 
mandant of  a  Russian  fort  on  the  Terek,  a  rough  un- 
lettered soldier,  but  a  man  of  excellent  heart.  We 
shall  distinguish  the  two  speakers  in  the  dialogue,  by 
their  initials  L.  and  M. 


THE  HORSE  AND  HIS  RIDER.  143 

THE  CAPTAIN'S  STORY. 

M. — I  was  quartered,  you  see,  with  my  company 
in  the  fort  beyond  the  Terek — this  was  about  five 
years  ago.  One  autumn  a  party  arrived  with  pro- 
visions, and  accompanied  by  an  officer,  a  young  man 
of  about  five  and  twenty,  who  reported  that  he  was 
ordered  to  remain  with  me  in  the  fort.  I  could  see  at 
once  from  his  appearance,  and  the  freshness  of  his 
accoutrements,  that  he  had  not  been  long  in  the 
Caucasus  ;  so  I  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  said,  "  Very 
glad  to  see  you  ;  you  will  find  your  quarters  here  rather 
dull ;  however,  we  will  be  as  sociable  with  each  other 
as  possible ;  so  call  me,  if  you  please,  by  my  plain  name, 
Maxim  Maximitch."  His  own,  by  the  by,  was  Gregorii 
Alexandrovitch  Petchorin.  He  was  a  very  fine  young 
fellow,  I  assure  you,  only  a  little  odd.  For  instance, 
he  would  hunt  the  whole  day  long  in  rain  and  cold ; 
everybody  else  would  be  half  frozen,  and  knocked 
up,  but  he  not  a  bit.  Another  turn  he  would  sit  in 
his  room,  and  if  a  breath  of  air  was  stirring  he  would 
declare  he  was  chilled  to  the  bones ;  if  the  window 
shutter  flapped  to,  he  would  start  and  turn  pale,  and 
yet  I  have  seen  him  dash  at  a  wild  boar  all  alone. 
Ay,  he  had  very  odd  ways,  surely,  and  he  must  have 
been  very  rich,  for  you  never  saw  such  a  lot  of  costly 
things  as  he  had  with  him.  He  stayed  with  me  a  full 
year,  and  good  reason  I  have  to  remember  that  year, 


144  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

for  it  caused  me  a  great  deal  of  anxiety  and  sorrow  ; 
but  I  will  not  think  of  that  now. 

There  was  a  friendly  prince  residing  about  six 
versts  from  the  fort,  whose  son,  a  lad  about  fifteen, 
was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  us  every  day,  for  one  thing 
or  another.  Petchorin  and  I  took  a  great  liking  to 
him.  What  a  smart,  nimble  chap  he  was  !  There 
was  nothing  he  could  not  do.  He  could  pick  up  his 
cap  from  the  ground,  or  load  and  fire  off  his  gun  at 
full  gallop.  But  there  was  one  bad  thing  in  him ;  he 
had  a  desperate  hankering  after  money.  Gregorii 
Alexandrovitch  once  promised  in  joke,  that  he  would 
give  him  a  ducat,  if  he  would  steal  him  the  best  ram 
out  of  his  father's  flock — and  what  do  you  think  ?  the 
young  scamp  dragged  him  in  to  us  the  very  next  night 
by  the  horns.  But  if  ever,  as  happened  now  and  then, 
we  took  it  into  our  heads  to  make  fun  of  him,  his  eyes 
would  flash  fire,  and  his  hand  was  on  his  dagger  in  an 
instant.  O  Asamat,  I  used  to  say  to  him,  you  will 
never  wear  a  grey  head  on  your  shoulders,  your  unruly 
temper  will  be  the  ruin  of  you. 

Once  the  old  prince  came  in  person  to  invite  us  to 
the  wedding  of  his  eldest  daughter,  and  of  course  we 
could  not  civilly  refuse.  When  we  entered  the  hamlet, 
a  pack  of  dogs  ran  at  us  barking  furiously.  The  wo- 
men hid  themselves  as  soon  as  they  saw  us,  and  those 
whose  faces  we  did  get  a  glimpse  of,  were  anything 
but  beauties.  "  I  had  a  much  higher  idea  of  the  Cir- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 


145 


cassian  women,"  said  Petchorin  to  me.  "  Have  a  lit- 
tle patience,"  said  I,  smiling,  and  keeping  my  thoughts 
to  myself. 

There  was  a  great  concourse  already  assembled  in 
the  prince's  house.  It  is  the  custom,  you  are  aware, 
among  the  Asiatics  to  keep  open  house  for  all  comers  on 
these  occasions.  They  received  us  with  all  possible 
marks  of  respect,  and  led  us  into  the  guest  chamber ; 
but  first  I  took  care  to  notice  privately  where  they  put 
our  horses,  in  case  anything  should  happen,  you  know. 

L. — What  are  their  marriage  ceremonies  ? 

M. — Nothing  very  remarkable.  First,  the  mollah 
reads  something  out  of  the  Koran,  then  presents  are 
made  to  the  young  couple,  and  to  all  their  relations ; 
they  eat,  they  drink  busa ;  the  zhi  ghitofka  begins, 
and  there  is  always  some  greasy  rogue  mounted  on  a 
lame  old  rip  of  a  horse,  to  amuse  the  worshipful  com- 
pany with  his  grotesque  capers,  and  his  jokes.  By  and 
by,  when  it  grows  dark,  the  ball,  as  we  should  call  it, 
begins.  An  old  beggar  strums  upon  a  three  stringed 
instrument — I  forget  what  they  call  it ;  the  lads  and 
lasses  stand  up  in  two  rows  opposite  each  other,  clap 
hands  and  sing.  A  girl  and  a  young  man  then  step 
into  the  middle  space,  and  sing  alternate  verses,  just 
whatever  comes  into  their  heads,  and  the  rest  join  in 
chorus.  Petchorin  and  I  were  seated  in  the  place  of 
honor,  and  all  of  a  sudden,  our  host's  youngest  daugh- 
ter, a  girl  about  sixteen,  stepped  up  to  my  friend,  and 
8 


146  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

sang  to  him — what  shall  I  call  it  ? — a  sort  of  compli- 
ment. 

L. — But  the  words,  the  words, — do  you  happen  to 
remember  them  ? 

M. — Well,  I  believe  they  were  something  to  this 
effect :  "  Beautiful,  in  truth,  are  our  young  zhighit 
dancers,  and  their  caftans  are  richly  adorned  with  sil- 
ver ;  but  the  young  Russian  officer  is  more  beautiful 
than  they,  and  his  laces  are  of  gold.  He  towers 
among  them  like  a  poplar,  but  it  is  not  his  destiny  to 
grow  and  flourish  in  our  garden."  Petchorin  rose  and 
bowed,  laying  his  hand  on  his  forehead  and  his  breast, 
and  requested  me  to  reply  for  him.  I  knew  their  lan- 
guage very  well,  and  translated  his  answer. 

When  the  girl  had  left  us,  I  whispered  my  comrade, 
"  Well,  what  say  you  now  ?  What  do  you  think  of 
that  girl  ?"  "  Charming  !"  he  exclaimed  ;  "  what  is 
her  name  ?"  "  Her  name  is  Bela,"  I  answered.  And 
beautiful  indeed  she  was  !  tall,  slender,  with  eyes  as 
black  as  the  gazelle's,  that  seemed  to  look  into  your 
very  soul.  Petchorin,  completely  captivated,  never 
took  his  eyes  off  her,  and  she  frequently  shot  a  stolen 
glance  upon  him  from  beneath  her  jetty  eyelashes. 
But  Petchorin  was  not  the  only  one  whose  gaze  was 
riveted  on  the  lovely  princess  :  there  was  another  pair 
of  eyes  in  the  corner  of  the  room,  that  glared  upon 
her  incessantly,  with  passionate  fire.  I  looked  sharply 
that  way,  and  recognized  my  old  acquaintance,  Kas- 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  147 

bitch.  Now  things  were  in  such  a  position,  you  must 
know,  with  respect  to  this  man,  that  he  could  neither 
be  regarded  as  decidedly  friendly  to  the  Russians,  nor 
be  pronounced  decidedly  the  reverse.  There  were 
many  suspicions  against  him,  though  nothing  definite 
could  ever  be  brought  home  to  him.  It  often  occurred, 
that  he  brought  us  sheep  into  the  fort,  and  offered  them 
at  a  low  price  ;  but  he  would  never  higgle  ;  whatever 
price  he  asked  first,  we  had  always  to  give  him,  for  he 
would  sooner  have  let  his  head  be  chopped  off,  than 
bate  a  kopeck.  It  was  whispered  that  he  was  fond 
of  knocking  about  with  the  Abreks  beyond  the  Kuban, 
and  to  say  the  truth  of  him,  he  had  very  much  the  cut 
of  a  robber :  rather  small,  well  knit,  broad  shouldered, 
and  as  nimble  as  any  wild  cat !  His  Tartar  frock, 
beshmet  they  call  it,  was  always  torn  and  patched,  but 
his  weapons  were  bright,  and  adorned  with  silver. 
And  then  his  horse,  it  was  renowned  throughout  all 
Kabarda,  and  a  better  it  would  certainly  be  impossible 
to  conceive.  It  was  not  without  reason,  all  the  ma- 
rauders envied  him  the  possession  of  such  an  animal, 
and  more  than  one  attempt  was  made  to  steal  it  from 
him,  but  never  with  success.  I  can  see  that  horse 
now,  as  plainly  as  if  it  stood  before  me,  black  as  pitch, 
its  limbs  slender  and  strong  as  steel,  its  eyes  a  match 
for  Bela's  ;  and  then  for  bottom  !  it  would  clear  its  full 
fifty  versts  at  full  speed ;  and  so  tractable,  that  it 
would  follow  its  master  like  a  dog,  ay  !  it  knew  even 


148  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

what  he  said.  Very  often  he  did  not  even  tether  it. 
Take  it  for  all  in  all,  it  was  the  very  model  of  a  rob- 
ber's horse. 

Kasbitch  was  more  sullen  that  evening  than  usual, 
and  I  noticed  that  he  had  on  a  shirt  of  mail  under  his 
beshmet.  It  is  not  for  nothing,  thinks  T,  he  wears  that 
shirt  of  mail ;  he  has  something  in  his  head,  I'm  sure. 

The  guest  room  was  very  close,  and  I  went  out  of 
doors  to  breathe  the  fresh  air.  Night  had  now  settled 
on  the  mountains,  and  the  mists  were  creeping  forth 
from  the  glens.  The  thought  struck  me  I  would  go 
into  the  shed  where  our  horses  stood,  and  see  if  they 
had  fodder.  I  had  an  excellent  horse  with  me,  and 
more  than  one  Kabardan  had  already  looked  at  him 
with  an  approving  eye ;  so  I  thought  a  little  caution 
could  do  no  harm  in  the  case. 

9 

Groping  along  the  boarded  wall,  I  suddenly  heard 
voices.  One  of  them  I  recognized  instantly,  for  that 
scamp  Asamat's,  our  host's  son ;  the  other  person 
spoke  less,  and  in  a  lower  tone.  "  What  are  they 
coshering  about  ?"  thought  I ;  "  not  about  my  horse, 
is  it  ?"  With  that  I  squatted  down  by  the  wall, 
determined  not  to  lose  a  word ;  but  the  noise  of  the 
singing,  and  the  din  within  doors,  now  and  then  drown- 
ed a  part  of  the  conversation  in  which  I  was  so  much 
interested. 

"  You  have  a  splendid  horse,"  said  Asamat.  "  Were 
I  master  here,  and  had  a  herd  of  three  hundred  mares, 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  149 

I  would  freely  give  the  half  of  them  for  your  courser, 
Kasbitch." 

"  Aha,  Kasbitch  !"  said  I  to  myself;  and  I  called  to 
mind  the  shirt  of  mail. 

"  Ay,"  replied  Kasbitch,  after  a  moment's  silence, 
"  there  is  not  his  like  in  all  Kabarda.  Once — this  was 
beyond  the  Terek — I  set  out  with  the  Abreks  to 
capture  Russian  herds  of  horses.  The  attempt  was 
a  failure,  and  we  scattered,  one  this  way,  another  that. 
Four  Cossacks  were  after  me.  I  could  hear  the 
villains  shout  behind  me,  and  before  me  was  a  thick 
forest.  I  bent  down  in  the  saddle,  commended  myself 
to  Allah,  and  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  dealt  my  horse 
a  blow  with  my  whip.  He  darted  like  a  bird  through 
the  branches,  my  clothes  were  torn  in  shreds,  and  the 
twigs  lashed  me  in  the  face.  My  horse  leaped  over 
the  stumps  of  trees,  and  burst  the  thick  underwood 
asunder  with  his  chest.  As  far  as  myself  was  con- 
cerned, I  should  have  done  better  to  have  turned  my 
horse  loose  in  the  copse,  and  hid  myself  in  the  wood, 
but  I  could  not  part  from  him,  and  the  prophet 
rewarded  me.  Some  bullets  whistled  over  my  head, 
and  I  heard  my  pursuers  close  behind  me.  Suddenly 
a  deep  chasm  yawned  before  me — my  courser  recoiled 
on  his  haunches — and  leaped.  His  hind  feet  slipped 
on  the  further  bank,  and  he  hung  on  by  his  fore  feet. 
I  dropped  the  rein,  and  let  myself  fall  into  the  chasm : 
that  saved  him,  he  regained  his  footing.  The  Cossacks 


150  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

saw  the  whole  affair,  but  none  of  them  thought  of 
descending  in  search  of  me.  They  believed,  no  doubt, 
I  must  have  broken  my  neck,  and  I  heard  them  dash 
after  my  horse  to  catch  him.  The  blood  curdled  in 
my  breast.  I  crept  through  the  deep  grass  along  the 
bottom  of  the  channel,  and  looked  out :  the  wood 
ended  there,  and  some  of  the  Cossacks  were  just  riding 
out  of  it  into  the  open  country,  and  I  saw  my 
Karagos  running  straight  towards  them.  The  whole 
pack  made  at  him  with  a  yell ;  he  turned  ;  they  fol- 
lowed him  a  long,  long  while  ;  and  one  in  particular 
was  twice  near  flinging  the  noose  over  his  neck.  I 
shook  from  head  to  foot,  shut  my  eyes,  and  began  to 
pray.  Some  moments  afterwards  I  opened  them 
again,  and  behold,  there  goes  my  Karagos,  with  his 
tail  at  full  stretch,  flying  like  the  wind,  and  the  Cos- 
sacks creeping  away  one  after  the  other,  on  their  jaded 
horses  far  off  towards  the  Steppe.  By  Allah  !  every 
word  I  tell  you  is  the  truth,  the  strict  truth  !  I  stayed 
in  the  chasm  till  a  late  hour  of  the  night.  All  at 
once — guess  what,  Asamat ! — I  heard  a  horse  running 
along  the  bank,  snorting,  whinnying,  and  pawing  the 
ground.  I  knew  the  voice  of  my  Karagos,  and  it  was 
he,  indeed,  my  trusty  comrade  !  Since  that  day  we 
are  inseparable." 

And  I  could  hear  him  patting  his  horse's  polished 
neck,  and  calling  him  by  all  the  endearing  names  he 
could  think  of. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  151 

"If  I  had  a  herd  of  a  thousand  mares,"  cried 
Asamat,  "  I  would  give  them  every  one  for  your 
Karagos." 

"  Like  enough ;  but  I  would  not  let  him  go  for 
them,"  said  Kasbitch,  with  indifference. 

"  Hark  ye,  Kasbitch,"  said  Asamat,  coaxingly.  "  You 
are  a  good  fellow,  you  are  a  brave  zhigit ;  my  father, 
you  see,  fears  the  Russians,  and  will  not  let  me  go  to 
the  mountains  ;  now  give  me  your  horse,  and  I  will  do 
everything  you  desire.  I  will  steal  you  my  father's 
best  rifle,  his  best  shaska — anything  you  will.  His 
shaska  is  a  genuine  gurda  :  only  hold  it  out  in  your 
hand,  and  the  blade  strikes  into  the  flesh  of  its  own 
accord ;  and  his  shirt  of  mail  is  as  good  as  yours 
every  bit." 

Kasbitch  made  no  answer. 

"  The  first  time  I  saw  your  horse,"  continued 
Asamat,  IC  as  it  whirled  round  beneath  you,  and  dash- 
ed away  with  expanded  nostrils,  the  stones  flashing 
fire  beneath  its  hoofs,  something,  I  know  not  what, 
seized  hold  of  my  soul,  and  from  that  moment  I 
could  never  bear  to  look  at  any  other.  I  scorned  my 
father's  best  and  fleetest  steeds, — I  should  have  been 
ashamed  to  be  seen  on  the  back  of  one  of  them.  I 
was  completely  overcome  with  grief,  and  would  sit 
pining  the  livelong  day  on  a  rock,  and  every  moment  I 
had  before  my  eyes  your  black  horse,  with  his  stately 
step,  his  back  straight  and  smooth  as  an  arrow,  and 


152  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

his  bright  eyes  that  looked  into  mine,  as  if  he  would 
speak  to  me.  I  shall  die,  Kasbitch,  if  you  will  not  let 
me  have  him." 

Asamat's  voice  faltered,  and  I  fancied  I  heard 
him  crying.  Now  I  must  tell  you  Asamat  was  a 
most  hardened  and  vicious  chap,  from  whom  there  was 
no  forcing  a  tear,  even  when  he  was  a  nursed  child. 
A  scornful  laugh  was  the  only  answer  to  his  tears. 

"  Hear  me,"  said  Asamat,  with  a  firm  voice  :  "  My 
mind  is  made  up  for  anything— everything  ! — Shall  I 
steal  my  sister  for  you  ?  How  she  dances  !  How 
she  sings !  and  she  embroiders  in  gold,  that  it  is  a 
wonder  to  see  !  The  Turkish  padisha  hardly  possess- 
es such  a  girl. — Well  !  Only  say  the  word.  Wait 
for  me  to-morrow  night  in  the  glen  yonder,  by  the 
waterfall ;  I  will  take  her  that  way  as  if  to  the  neigh- 
boring hamlet,  and  she  is  yours.  What  say  you,  is 
not  Bela  well  worth  your  courser  ?  " 

Kasbitch  was  silent  for  a  long,  long  while  ;  at  last, 
instead  of  replying,  he  began  to  chant  an  old  ditty 
half  aloud  : 

"  Down  in  our  hamlet  many  are  the  beauteous  maidens, 
Stars  are  gleaming  in  the  dark  heaven  of  their  eyes. 
Sweet  it  were  to  own  their  love,  a  lot,  indeed,  to  envy  ! 
But  sweeter  still  than  this  is  young  and  lusty  freedom. 
For  gold  you  may  buy  beauties,  ay,  as-  many  as  yoa  will. 
But  a  steed  of  highest  mettle  is  a  treasure  beyond  price, 
Swift  as  the  wind  he  flies  over  the  Steppes, 
And  fickleness  and  falsehood  have  no  place  in  him." 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  153 

It  was  to  no  purpose  Asamat  importuned  him  to  ac- 
cept his  proposal,  and  wept,  and  raved,  and  swore ; 
Kasbitch  lost  patience  at  last. 

"  Go  along,  silly  boy  ! "  he  said.  "  You  ride  my 
horse  !  With  the  first  three  steps  he  would  fling  you 
off,  and  break  your  neck  on  the  stones." 

"  Me  !  "  screamed  Asamat,  in  a  fury,  and  the  boy's 
dagger  clashed  on  the  coat  of  mail.  But  a  vigorous 
hand  shook  him  off,  and  dashed  him  with  such  violence 
against  the  boarded  wall  that  it  rocked  with  the  blow. 
Here's  a  pretty  piece  of  work  !  thought  I ;  so  I  hur- 
ried to  the  stall,  bridled  our  horses,  and  led  them  to 
the  backdoor.  In  two  minutes  there  was  a  tremen- 
dous row  in  the  house.  What  happened  there  was 
briefly  this :  Asamat  rushed  in,  with  his  helmet  torn, 
crying  out  that  Kasbitch  wanted  to  murder  him.  All 
present  sprang  up,  seized  their  weapons,  and  the  brawl 
began.  All  were  shouting,  blows,  and  firing ;  but 
Kasbitch  was  already  in  the  saddle,  and  broke,  like  an 
incarnate  devil,  through  the  throng,  brandishing  his 
shashka.  Petchorin  wanted  to  see  how  it  would  end, 
but  he  took  my  advice,  and  we  rode  straight  home. 

L. — And  how  did  it  fare  with  Kasbitch  ? 

M. — The  usual  luck  of  these  fellows  ;  he  got  clear 
off — whether  wounded  or  not,  Heaven  only  knows  ! 
They  have  as  many  lives  as  cats,  these  robbers.  I 
saw  one  of  them,  for  instance,  in  battle,  pierced  like  a 
sieve  with  bayonet  holes,  yet  still  laving  about  him 
8* 


__  . 

- 
154  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

with  his  shas-hka  (The  captain  paused  awhile,  and 
then  continued,  stamping  on  the  ground) :  One  thing  I 
shall  never  forgive  myself;  the  devil  put  it  into  my 
head,  when  I  got  back  to  the  fort,  to  tell  Petchorin  all 
I  had  overheard  in  the  shed.  He  smiled,  with  such  a 
sly  air, — he  had  his  reasons  for  it,  as  you  shall  see. 

Asamat  came  to  the  fort  some  three  or  four  days 
after  the  wedding,  and,  as  usual,  made  for  Petchorin's 
quarters,  where  he  was  always  pampered  with  dain- 
ties. I  was  present :  the  conversation  turned  on 
horses,  and  Petchorin  began  to  cry  up  Kasbitch's 
horse,  it  was  so  spirited,  so  handsome,  so  like  an  ante- 
lope— in  short,  by  his  account,  there  was  not  such  an- 
other on  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  little  Tartar's 
eyes  began  to  glow,  but  Petchorin  pretended  not  to 
notice  this.  I  turned  the  talk  to  other  subjects,  but 
he  somehow  contrived  always  to  bring  it  back  to  Kas- 
bitch's horse.  The  same  thing  invariably  occurred  as 
often  as  Asamat  visited  us.  At  the  end  of  three 
weeks  I  could  plainly  perceive  that  Asamat  was  grow- 
ing pale  and  wasted,  just  as  the  effects  of  love  are  de- 
scribed in  romances.  Curious ! 

Now  it  was  not  till  some  time  after,  do  you  see, 
that  I  got  at  the  rights  of  this  whole  piece  of  roguery. 
Petchorin  tantalized  him  to  that  degree,  that  he  was 
ready  to  drown  himself.  At  last  he  said  to  him,  "  I 
see,  Asamat,  you  have  taken  a  great  fancy  to  this 
horse  ;  but  you  have  no  more  chance  of  ever  getting 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  155 

him  than  of  seeing  the  back  of  your  own  neck.  Tell 
me,  though,  what  would  you  give  the  man  who  should 
procure  you  the  animal  ? " 

"  Anything  he  desired,"  replied  Asamat, 

"  If  that  is  the  case,  I  am  your  man  ;  you  shall  have 
the  horse,  but  on  one  condition — swear  that  you  will 
fulfil  it." 

"  I  swear  !     You,  too,  swear." 

"  Very  good.  I  swear  the  horse  shall  be  yours  ; 
only  you  must  give  me  your  sister  Bela  in  return. 
The  bargain  I  think  will  be  a  profitable  one  for  you." 
Asamat  was  silent. 

"  You  will  not  do  it  ?  As  you  please.  I  thought 
you  were  a  full  grown  man,  but  I  see  you  are  still 
only  a  boy.  It  is  too  soon  for  you  to  back  a  horse 
like"— 

Asamat  was  on  fire.     "But  my  father?  "  said  he. 

"  Does  he  never  leave  home  ? " 

"  Well,  he  does,  sometimes." 

"  Then  it  is  done  !  " 

"  Done  !"  whispered  Asamat,  as  pale  as  death. 
"The  time?" 

"  The  first  time  Kasbitch  comes  here.  He  pro- 
mised to  bring  ten  sheep  to  the  fort.  Leave  the  rest 
to  me.  Do  you  do  your  part,  Asamat." 

And  thus  they  arranged  the  whole  affair  between 
them,  no  very  creditable  affair,  to  say  the  least  of  it. 
I  expressed  this  opinion  subsequently  to  Petchorin, 


156  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER. 

but  he  merely  replied  that  the  barbarian  Circassian 
girl  was  very  well  off  to  get  so  good  a  husband  as 
himself,  for  according  to  the  way  of  thinking  of  her 
own  people,  he  was  in  every  respect  her  husband  ; 
and  that  Kasbitch  was  a  robber  who  deserved  to  be 
punished.  Judge  for  yourself,  what  answer  I  could 
make  to  that  ?  But,  at  that  time,  I  knew  nothing  of 
the  preconcerted  bargain.  Well,  behold  you  !  Kas- 
bitch came  at  last,  and  asked,  did  we  want  sheep  or 
honey  ?  I  desired  him  to  bring  them  on  the  following 
day.  "  Asamat,"  said  Petchorin,  "  to-morrow  Kara- 
gos  will  be  in  my  possession  ;  if  Bela  is  not  here  this 
night,  you  shall  never  see  the  horse." 

"  Good,"  said  Asamat,  and  off  he  ran  to  the  hamlet. 
In  the  evening,  Petchorin  armed  himself  and  rode  out 
of  the  fort.  How  they  managed  the  thing  I  cannot 
tell ;  all  I  know  is  that  the  sentinel  saw  a  girl  laid 
crossways  on  Asamat's  saddle,  her  hands  and  feet 
bound,  and  her  head  muffled  up  in  a  thick  veil. 

Next  day  Kasbitch  came  with  ten  sheep  for  sale. 
After  pulling  up  his  horse  he  came  on  to  me.  I  en- 
tertained him  with  tea,  because,  though  he  was  a  rob- 
ber, we  were  on  terms  of  hospitality.  We  were 
chatting  about  one  thing  and  another,  when,  all  on  a 
sudden,  I  saw  Kasbitch  start  and  change  color. 
"  What  is  the  matter  ?"  said  I. 

"  My  horse  !  my  horse  !"  he  cried,  trembling  all 
over. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  157 

"  Well,  I  did  hear  the  sound  of  a  horse.  Some 
Cossack,  I  suppose" 

"  No  !  Russian  treachery  !  treachery  !"  he  bellowed, 
dashing  headlong  out  of  doors,  like  a  wild  panther. 
In  two  bounds  he  was  in  the  open  air.  The  sentinel 
at  the  gate  levelled  his  piece  at  him,  and  barred  his 
way  :  he  leaped  over  the  soldier's  gun,  and  ran  with 
all  his  might  and  main  along  the  road.  The  dust  was 
flying  at  a  distance — Asamat  was  galloping  away  on 
the  back  of  Karagos.  Kasbitch  uncased  his  gun  as 
he  ran,  and  fired,  then  stood  motionless  till  he  had 
assured  himself  he  had  missed  his  aim  ;  then  howled 
with  rage,  flung  the  weapon  from  his  hand,  shattering 
it  against  the  stones,  and  began  to  cry  like  a  child. 
Numbers  had  gathered  around  him  from  the  fort — 
he  heeded  nothing  :  they  lingered  with  him,  tried  to 
talk  with  him,  and  at  last  left  him.  I  ordered  the 
money  for  the  sheep  to  be  laid  beside  him  :  he  never 
touched  it,  but  lay  with  his  face  on  the  ground  like  a 
dead  man.  Would  you  believe  it  ?  He  lay  there 
the  whole  livelong  night.  It  was  not  till  next  morn- 
ing he  returned  to  the  fort,  and  entreated  our  people 
to  tell  him  the  name  of  the  thief.  The  sentinel,  who 
had  seen  Asamat  untie  the  horse  and  gallop  away  with 
him,  did  not  think  it  necessary  to  make  any  secret  of 
the  matter.  Kasbitch's  eyes  flashed  fire  at  that  name, 
and,  turning  on  his  heel,  he  made  straight  for  the 
hamlet  where  Asamat's  father  lived.  But  he  did  not 


158  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

find  him  there.  He  had  gone  from  home  for  six  days  ; 
and  that  was  one  of  the  helping  circumstances  of  the 
plot,  for  otherwise  Asamat  could  hardly  have  carried 
off  his  sister. 

But  when  the  father  returned,  there  was  neither 
son  nor  daughter  in  the  place.  The  thieving  villain  ! 
he  well  knew  he  could  never  save  his  neck  if  he  let 
himself  be  caught.  So  from  that  hour  he  was  never 
seen  again.  Probably  he  joined  some  band  of  Abreks, 
or  had  his  hot  head  cooled  for  him  beyond  the  Terek 
or  the  Kuban.  His  route  was  in  that  direction. 
The  father  soon  afterwards  paid  the  penalty  of  his 
son's  crime.  Kasbitch  never  doubted  but  that  Asa- 
mat  had  stolen  the  horse  with  the  privity  and  consent 
of  his  father ;  at  least  so  I  conjecture.  Accordingly 
he  lay  in  lurk  one  day,  by  the  road,  some  two  versts 
from  the  hamlet.  The  old  man  was  returning  from 
a  fruitless  search  after  his  daughter  ;  his  usdens  (reti- 
nue of  vassals)  were  some  distance  behind  him.  It 
was  dusk,  and  he  was  riding  slowly  along,  as  a  man 
in  deep  grief  might  do,  when  Kasbitch  sprang,  like  a 
cat,  from  behind  a  bush,  leaped  up  behind  the  old 
man,  stabbed  and  flung  him  on  the  ground,  then  seized 
the  reins  and  away  !  Some  usdens  saw  the  whole 
proceeding  from  a  hill,  and  hotly  pursued  the  murder- 
er, but  in  vain. 

[Honest  Maxim  Maximitch  severely  remonstrated 
with  his  subaltern  when  he  became  aware  of  the 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  159 

shameful  act  the  latter  had  committed  ;  but  the  mis- 
chief was  irreparable,  and  the  good-natured  captain 
contented  himself  with  trying  to  make  the  best  of  a 
bad  business.  Bela  herself,  after  her  first  resentful 
emotions  had  subsided,  yielded  to  her  fate,  and  even 
acknowledged  that  since  she  first  saw  Petchorin  she 
had  never  ceased  to  think  of  him.  The  Captain  con- 
tinued thus  :] — 

She  was  a  charming  girl,  this  Bela.  I  grew  as 
attached  to  her,  at  last,  as  if  she  were  my  own 
daughter,  and  she  was  fond  of  me  too.  You  must 
know  I  have  no  family ;  I  have  heard  nothing  these 
twelve  years  of  my  father  and  mother.  Formerly  I 
had  not  sufficient  means  to  maintain  a  wife,  and  now, 
you  know,  the  time  is  gone  by  when  I  could  fairly 
think  of  the  like  ;  it  was  a  godsend  to  me,  therefore, 
to  have  some  one  to  spoil.  She  often  sang  to  us,  or 
danced  Lesgish  dances — and  what  a  dancer  !  I  have 
seen  our  ladies  of  the  provinces — I  was  once  at  a  ball 
of  the  nobles  at  Moscow,  twenty  years  ago — but  what 
was  all  I  saw  there  compared  with  her !  Petchorin 
dressed  her  out  like  a  doll,  with  everything  that  was 
costly  and  pretty.  She  grew  more  beautiful,  too,  with 
us,  every  day  ;  it  was  wonderful.  Her  face  and 
hands  lost  their  sunburnt  hue,  a  soft  tinge  of  red 
appeared  on  her  cheeks — and  how  merry  she  could 
be,  and  what  tricks  she  would  often  play  upon  me,  the 
darling  wanton  !  God  be  gracious  to  her  ! 


160  THE    HORSE   AND   HIS   RIDER. 

For  four  months  everything  went  on  as  well  as 
heart  could  wish.  Fetch orin,  as  I  believe  I  told  you 
before,  was  uncommonly  fond  of  the  chase.  For- 
merly all  his  delight  was  in  the  woods,  after  the  wild 
boars  and  the  deer,  but  now  he  hardly  ever  went  out- 
side the  gates  of  the  fort.  All  at  once,  however,  I 
observed  he  was  grown  pensive,  and  would  walk  up  and 
down  the  room  with  his  hands  behind  his  back.  Then 
he  went  out  one  morning  to  shoot,  without  saying  a 
word  to  any  one,  and  stayed  out  the  whole  morning. 
Presently  this  happened  a  second  time,  and  then 
again  and  again.  There's  something  wrong,  thought 
I,  I'll  lay  my  life  on  it ;  a  black  cat  has  jumped  be- 
tween the  pair. 

[It  was  so.  Petchorin's  passion  was  beginning  to 
cool,  and  Bela  was  growing  unhappy.  One  day, 
when  Petchorin  was  away  hunting,  she  walked  out 
with  the  captain  on  the  ramparts.] 

Our  fort  stood  on  high  ground,  and  the  view  from 
the  ramparts  was  very  fine.  On  the  one  side  was  an 
open  tract,  bounded  by  ravines,  beyond  which  was  a 
wood,  stretching  up  to  the  crest  of  the  mountain ; 
here  and  there  hamlets  were  seen  smoking,  and  horses 
grazing.  On  the  other  side  ran  a  small  stream  scat- 
tering its  spray  over  the  thick  copse  that  clothed  a 
rocky  hill,  an  offshoot  from  the  main  chain  of  the  Cau- 
casus. We  sat  on  the  angle  Of  a  bastion,  so  that  we 
had  a  full  view  on  both  sides.  Suddenly  I  saw  a 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  161 

man  ride  out  of  the  wood  on  a  grey  horse.  He  came 
towards  us,  stopped  on  the  other  side  of  the  brook, 
and  began  to  make  his  horse  caper  about  as  if  he 
was  mad.  "  What  the  deuce  is  that  ? "  said  I. 
"  Look  yonder,  Bela,  your  eyes  are  younger  than 
mine  ;  what  sort  of  a  zhighit  is  that  ?  For  whose 
amusement  is  he  playing  such  antics  ? " 

She  looked  towards  the  horseman,  and  cried  out, 
"  It  is  Kasbitch  !  And  that  is  my  father's  horse  !  "  she 
said,  grasping  my  hand.  She  trembled  like  an  aspen 
leaf,  and  her  eye  flashed.  "  Ha !  the  robber  ! "  cried 
I,  and,  looking  more  closely,  I  saw  sure  enough  it  was 
Kasbitch  with  his  swarthy  features,  and  his  clothes 
as  ragged  and  dirty  as  ever. 

"  Come  here,"  said  I,  to  the  sentry  ;  "  look  to 
your  piece,  and  shoot  me  that  fellow  yonder.  You 
shall  have  a  silver  ruble  if  you  hit  him."  "Very 
well,  your  honor ;  but  he  never  stops  a  moment  in 
one  spot."  "  Call  to  him  to  stand  still,"  said  I, 
laughing.  "Holla,  my  good  fellow,"  shouted  the 
sentinel,  beckoning  to  the  horseman,  "  stand  still  a 
bit,  will  you  ?  what  do  you  keep  wheeling  about  in 
that  way  for  ?"  Kasbitch  actually  stopped,  and  ap- 
peared to  listen,  thinking,  probably,  that  we  wanted 
to  parley  with  him — but  no  such  thing  ;  my  grenadier 
levelled — puff ! — the  piece  flashed  in  the  pan.  Kas- 
bitch struck  the  spur  into  his  horse,  and  it  made  a 
side  bound.  Then,  standing  up  in  the  stirrups,  he 


162  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

shouted  out  something  in  his  own  tongue,  shook  his 
naghika  (whip)  at  us,  and  was  off. 

About  four  hours  afterwards  Petchorin  came  back 
from  hunting.  Bela  -threw  herself  on  his  neck ;  and 
not  one  word  of  complaint  did  she  utter,  not  one 
word  of  reproach  for  his  long  absence.  But  for  my 
part,  I  could  not  help  expostulating  with  him. 
"  For  God's  sake,"  said  I,  "  only  think  !  Kasbitch  was 
just  now  on  the  other  side  of  the  stream,  and  we 
fired  at  him :  it  was  the  greatest  chance  that  you  did 
not  fall  in  with  him.  These  Georgians  are  a  vindic- 
tive race.  You  fancy  he  has  no  suspicion  that  you 
abetted  Asamat.  I  will  take  you  a  bet  he  recog- 
nized Bela.  I  know  he  took  a  great  liking  to  her 
a  year  ago :  he  told  me  so  himself ;  and  also, 
that,  when  he  should  have  raised  the  means  to 
make  her  father  the  necessary  presents,  he  would 
probably  become  her  suitor."  This  made  Petchorin 
thoughtful.  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  we  must  be  more  cau- 
tious. Bela,  from  this  day  forth,  you  must  not  show 
yourself  on  the  ramparts." 

I  had  a  long  explanation  with  him  in  the  evening. 
I  was  vexed  at  his  change  of  conduct  towards  the  poor 
girl :  for  besides  his  spending  half  his  time  in  field 
sports,  his  behavior  was  cold,  he  seldom  showed  her 
marks  of  fondness,  and  she  was  manifestly  beginning 
to  fall  away  in  flesh  :  her  little  face  became  smaller, 
and  her  large  eyes  grew  dim.  If  he  asked  her,  "What 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  163 

ails  you,  Bela ;  are  you  fretting  ?  "  she  would  answer, 
"  No."— "  Is  there  anything  you  wish  for  ?"— "  No."— 
"  Are  you  grieving  for  your  brother  and  sister  ?" — "  I 
have  no  brother  and  sister."  It  often  happened  that 
for  whole  days  together  you  could  not  get  a  word  out 
of  her,  bnt  yes  and  no. 

*  *  #  * 

Kasbitch  did  not  show  himself  again ;  only  I  could 
not  get  it  out  of  my  head,  that  he  had  not  come  to  the 
fort  for  nothing,  and  that  he  had  some  mischief  in  view. 

One  day  it  chanced  that  Petchorin  prevailed  on  me 
to  accompany  him  to  hunt  the  boar.  I  had  refused  for 
a  long  while  ;  the  sport,  indeed,  was  anything  but  new 
to  me,  and  offered  me  no  temptation.  He  forced  me, 
however,  to  go  with  him,  so  we  set  out  early  in  the 
morning,  taking  with  us  an  escort  of  five  soldiers. 
We  beat  about  the  bushes  and  the  grass,  till  ten 
o'clock,  but  started  no  game.  "  I  think  we  had  better 
go  home,"  said  I ;  "  what  is  the  good  of  stopping  here  ? 
This  is  plainly  no  lucky  day."  But  in  spite  of  heat 
and  fatigue,  Gregorii  Alexandrovitch  would  not  go 
back  empty-handed.  That  was  just  his  way  :  what- 
ever he  took  into  his  head,  must  be  :  it  was  easy  to  see 
his  mother  had  made  a  spoiled  pet  of  him  in  his  child- 
hood. At  last  about  noon  we  discovered  a  boar — 
bang  !  bang  ! — but  it  would  not  do  ;  the  boar  made  for 
the  bulrushes,  and  escaped ;  the  day  was  decidedly  an 


164  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

unlucky  one.  After  we  had  rested,  and  taken  breath 
a  little,  we  set  out  on  our  way  home. 

We  rode  side  by  side  in  silence,  with  our  reins 
slackened,  and  had  nearly  reached  the  fort,  which  was 
only  concealed  from  our  view  by  the  copse.  Suddenly 
we  heard  a  shot.  We  looked  in  each  other's  faces  ; 
the  same  suspicion  flashed  upon  us  both  ;  we  galloped 
headlong  in  the  direction  of  the  fort,  and  saw  a  group 
of  soldiers  on  the  ramparts  ;  they  pointed  towards  the 
open  country,  and  there  sped  a  horseman  with  the 
swiftness  of  an  arrow,  holding  something  white  before 
him  on  the  saddle  bow.  Gregorii  Alexandrovitch 
gave  a  loud  screech,  that  the  very  best  Tchetchenz 
could  not  have  beaten,  whipped  out  his  rifle  from  the 
case,  and  away  with  him,  myself  following. 

Fortunately,  as  our  sporting  had  not  been  lucky, 
our  horses  were  still  fresh  ;  they  cleared  the  ground 
at  a  great  rate,  and  every  moment  brought  us  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  object  of  our  pursuit.  At  last  I 
recognized  Kasbitch  ;  only  I  could  not  make  out  what 
it  was  he  carried  before  him.  I  was  now  again  along- 
side of  Petchorin,  and  called  out  to  him  that  it  was 
Kasbitch.  He  cast  a  look  at  me,  nodded,  and  lashed 
his  horse. 

At  last,  we  were  but  a  rifle  shot  from  the  robber. 
Whether  it  was  that  Kasbitch's  horse  was  fatigued, 
or  that  it  was  worse  than  ours,  at  any  rate,  he  did  not 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS   RIDER.  165 

make  good  way.     I  warrant  he  thought  of  his  Karagos 
at  that  moment. 

Looking  round  at  Petchorin,  I  saw  him  present  his 
rifle  while  galloping  at  full  speed.  "  No  firing  !"  I 
shouted  to  him  ;  "  reserve  your  charge,  we  will  catch 
him  yet."  But  such  is  youth  ;  it  never  gives  fire  at 
the  right  moment.  The  shot  went  off  whilst  I  was 
speaking,  and  the  ball  struck  the  horse  in  the  hind 
leg  ;  it  still  kept  on  for  a  few  paces,  stumbled,  and 
fell  on  its  knees.  Kasbitch  was  instantly  on  his  feet, 
and  now  we  saw  that  he  had  a  female  closely  muffled 
up  in  his  grasp.  It  was  Bela — poor  Bela  !  He 
shouted  something  to  us  in  his  own  language,  and 
raised  his  dagger  to  strike.  There  was  no  time  to  be 
lost,  I  fired  almost  at  random,  and  thought  for  certain 
I  had  hit  him  in  the  shoulder,  for  his  arm  instantly 
fell.  When  the  smoke  had  cleared  away,  there  lay 
the  wounded  horse  on  the  ground,  and  Bela  beside  it ; 
but  Kasbitch,  throwing  away  his  rifle  among  the 
bushes,  clambered  up  the  rocks  like  a  cat.  What 
would  I  not  have  given  to  bring  him  down  thence  with 
a  ball !  but  both  our  pieces  were  discharged.  We 
sprang  from  our  horses  and  rushed  to  Bela.  Poor 
creature,  she  lay  motionless,  with  the  blood  gushing 
from  her  wound.  What  a  miscreant !  Had  he  even 
stabbed  her  to  the  heart — at  least  it  would  have  been 
all  over  at  once — but  in  the  back  !  it  was  a  genuine 
robber's  stroke.  She  was  insensible  :  we  tore  up  her 


166  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

veil,  and  staunched  the  wound  as  well  as  we  could  :  in 
vain  Petchorin  kissed  her  cold  lips — nothing  could 
bring  her  back  to  consciousness. 

Petchorin  mounted  ;  I  lifted  her  from  the  ground, 
and  placed  her  carefully  before  him  on  the  saddle  ;  he 
put  his  arm  round  her,  and  we  rode  back  to  the  fort. 
We  sent  for  the  surgeon  ;  he  was  rather  drunk,  but  he 
came  ;  and  having  examined  the  wound,  he  told  us  she 
could  not  live  two  days.  He  was  wrong,  however — 

L. — Did  she  recover  ? 

M. — No.  The  surgeon  was  only  thus  far  mistaken, 
that  she  did  survive  for  two  days. 

L. — But  tell  me,  how  had  Kasbitch  contrived  to 
carry  her  off  ? 

M. — In  this  way.  Contrary  to  Petchorin's  express 
desire,  she  had  gone  out  of  the  fort  to  the  stream. 
The  weather,  you  see,  was  very  hot,  so  she  sat  down 
on  a  stone,  and  bathed  her  feet  in  the  water.  Just 
then  Kasbitch  stole  along,  pounced  upon  her,  clapped 
his  hand  upon  her  mouth,  dragged  her  into  the  thicket, 
where  he  sprang  on  his  horse  with  her,  and  was  off. 
Meanwhile  she  had  been  able  to  cry  out ;  the  sentinels 
were  alarmed,  and  they  fired,  but  missed  ;  at  that  mo- 
ment we  came  up. 

L. — But  what  was  Kasbitch's  motive  for  carrying 
her  off  ? 

M. — Motive  ?  Why,  they  are  all  notorious  robbers, 
these  Circassians.  If  anything  is  badly  watched,  you 


*•   J 

THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  167 

may  be  sure  they  will  not  leave  it  alone.  Many  a 
thing  may  be  of  no  use  to  them,  but  they  steal  it  for 
all  that.  Besides  he  had  long  had  a  fancy  for  the  girl. 

L.— And  Bela  died  ? 

M. — She  died  ;  but  she  suffered  long,  and  we  also 
with  her.  She  became  conscious  again  about  ten, 
that  night.  We  were  sitting  by  her  bedside.  The 
moment  she  opened  her  eyes,  she  called  for  Petchorin. 
"  Here  I  am,  my  zhaneshka"  (my  little  soul),  he  said, 
taking  her  hand  in  his.  "  I  shall  die,"  she  said.  We 
began  to  comfort  her,  and  told  her  the  surgeon  had 
promised  for  certain  he  would  bring  her  round.  She 
shook  her  head,  and  turned  her  face  to  the  wall :  she 
was  loath  to  die. 

During  the  night  she  began  to  be  delirious  ;  her 
head  burned,  and  feverish  shiverings  repeatedly  con- 
vulsed her  frame.  She  spoke,  in  disjointed  phrases, 
of  her  father  and  her  brother  ;  she  would  go  to  the 
mountains,  to  her  home.  Then  she  talked  of  Pet- 
chorin, calling  him  by  all  sorts  of  endearing  names, 
or  upbraiding  him  for  having  ceased  to  love  his 
zhaneshka. 

Well,  well  !  it  was  a  good  thing  she  died  ;  for  what 
would  have  become  of  her,  had  Petchorin  forsaken 
her  ?  It  would  certainly  have  come  to  that,  soon  or 
late.  One  thing,  I  confess,  particularly  distressed  me  : 
she  never  once  uttered  my  name  before  she  died ;  and 
yet  I  am  sure  I  loved  her  like  a  father.  Well,  God 


168  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

forgive  her  for  it ! — And  indeed  for  that  matter, 
who  am  I,  that  she  should  think  of  me  in  her  last 
moments  ? 

L. — How  did  Petchorin  bear  it  ? 

M. — Petchorin  was  a  long  time  ill ;  he  wasted 
away,  poor  fellow  :  we  never  spoke  again  of  Bela, 
from  that  time  forth.  Three  months  afterwards  he 
was  transferred  to  another  regiment,  and  left  Georgia ; 
we  have  never  met  since. 

L. — Did  you  never  hear  what  became  afterwards 
of  Kasbitch  ? 

M. — Of  Kasbitch  ?  I  really  do  not  know.  I  am 
told  indeed  that  there  is  among  the  Shapsooks,  on  our 
right  flank,  a  certain  Kasbitch,  a  wild  daredevil,  that 
rides  at  a  foot-pace  in  his  red  beshmet,  in  front  of 
our  artillery,  and  bows  politely  when  a  cannon  ball 
whizzes  past  him ;  but  it  can  hardly  be  the  same. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Runjeet  Singh's  famous  Horse  Lylee — Anecdotes — Persian  Horses. 

IT  is  no  unusual  circumstance  in  the  East,  for  deadly 
feuds,  such  as  that  detailed  in  the  last  chapter,  to  be 
occasioned  by  disputes  for  the  possession  of  a  horse. 
Quarrels  of  this  kind  are  very  common  among  the 
Arab  tribes  of  the  Desert,  and  are  often  perpetuated 
from  generation  to  generation.  The  fatal  beauty  of 
Helen  scarcely  caused  more  disasters  than  have  seve- 
rally followed  the  abduction  of  many  a  famous  steed. 
Runjeet  Singh,  the  great  ruler  of  the  Punjaub,  had  a 
horse  named  Lylee,  which  he  computed  to  have  cost 
him  60  lakhs  of  rupees  (£600,000)  and  the  lives  of 
12,000  soldiers,  having  been  the  occasion  of  several 
wars.  It  was  the  property  of  Yar  Mohammad  Khan, 
of  Peshawur  ;  and  Runjeet  Singh,  after  a  long  contest 
with  that  potentate,  made  the  delivery  of  the  animal 
to  him,  a  primary  condition  of  peace.  Yar  Moham- 
mad tried  many  stratagems  to  evade  this  demand  ;  first 
declared  the  horse  was  dead,  and  when  this  was  dis- 
covered to  be  a  falsehood,  he  made  several  attempts  to 
palm  off  other  horses  on  the  conqueror,  instead  of  the 
9 


170  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

real  Lylee.  In  the  course  of  the  negotiations,  Yar 
Mohammad  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  brother 
Jooltan  Mohammad  Khan,  who  also  prevaricated  as 
long  as  he  could.  But  at  last,  General  Ventura,  an 
,  Italian  in  Runjeet's  service,  ended  the  matter  by  a 
bold  stroke.  Entering  the  reception  room  one  day,  he 
once  more  formally  demanded  Lylee,  and  when  Jool- 
tan Mohammad  began  to  quibble  as  usual,  Ventura 
called  up  his  soldiers,  whom  he  had  posted  in  the 
courtyard  of  the  palace,  and  pronounced  the  Khan  a 
prisoner  in  his  own  capital.  This  so  astounded  the 
Khan,  that  he  ordered  the  horse  to  be  brought  forth- 
with, and  Ventura  quitted  Peshawur  with  his  costly 
booty. 

Lylee  was  full  sixteen  hands  high,  and  was  magni- 
ficently apparelled.  His  bridle  and  saddle  were 
splendid,  and  round  his  knees  he  had  gold  bangles. 
He  was  ridden  by  Lieut.  Barr's  party  in  1839,  when  he 
was  old,  and  disappointed  their  expectations.  He  was 
then  a  speckled  grey,  overloaded  with  fat,  filthily  dirty, 
and  his  heels,  for  want  of  paring  and  exercise,  were  so 
high  that  he  limped  along  with  much  difficulty.  A 
Dakhini,  for  which  the  Maharajah  had  given  about 
£1000,  in  their  opinion  far  exceeded  Lylee  in  beauty. 
Runjeet  Singh's  passion  for  horses  has  passed  into  a 
proverb  in  the  East :  it  amounted  almost  to  insanity.  He 
was  never  weary  of  talking  to  and  caressing  his  favorite 
steeds ;  they  were  continually  in  his  thoughts,  and 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  171 

almost  constantly  in  his  sight,  adorned  in  the  most 
sumptuous  style.  Their  bridles  were  overlaid  with 
gold  or  enamel,  a  plume  of  heron's  feathers  was  fixed 
to  the  headstall,  strings  of  jewels  were  hung  round 
the  animals'  necks,  under  which  were  fastened  sule- 
mans  or  onyx  stones,  highly  prized  on  account  of  the 
superstitions  connected  with  them.  The  saddles  were 
likewise  plated  with  enamel  and  gold,  and  set  with 
precious  stones,  the  pummels  being  particularly  rich. 
The  housings  were  of  Kashmir  shawls  fringed  with 
gold,  and  the  crupper  and  martingales  were  ornamented 
in  the  same  style  as  the  other  furniture.  Even  a  cart- 
horse sent  him  by  the  King  of  England,  was  dressed 
out  in  the  same  fashion.  His  Majesty  wished  to  make 
a  suitable  return  for  the  shawl  tent,  presented  to  him, 
through  Lord  Amherst,  by  the  old  Lion  of  the  Punjab, 
and  a  very  extraordinary  selection  was  made,  upon 
whose  advice  is  not  known.  A  team  of  cart-horses, 
four  mares,  and  one  stallion,  were  sent  out  from  Eng- 
land, under  the  notion  that  Runjeet  would  be  glad  to 
rear  a  larger  breed  than  the  native  Punjabees.  But 
the  fact  was,  he  cared  only  for  showy  saddle  horses, 
of  high  courage,  well  broken  into  the  manege  of  Hin- 
dustan, that  he  could  ride  himself,  on  parade,  or  on  the 
road,  or  set  his  favorites  upon.  Accordingly,  when 
the  cart-horses  arrived  at  his  court,  the  stallion  was  im- 
mediately put  into  the  breaker's  hands,  and  taught  the 
usual  artificial  paces.  This  animal,  with  its  enormous 


172  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER. 

head  and  coarse  legs,  stood  always  in  the  palace  yard, 
or  before  the  tent  of  the  chief,  blazing  with  gold  and 
precious  stones,  and  was  sometimes  honored  by  being 
crossed  by  Runjeet  Singh  himself.  The  mares  were 
never  looked  at,  and  were  matters  of  utter  indifference 
to  the  Singh. 

When  Runjeet  Singh  had  become  weak,  he  adopted 
a  singular  method  of  mounting  the  tall  horses  on  which 
he  loved  to  ride.  A  man  knelt  down  before  him,  and 
he  threw  his  leg  over  his  neck,  whereupon  the  man 
rose,  with  the  Maharajah  upon  his  shoulders,  and  ap- 
proached the  horse.  Runjeet  then  putting  his  right 
foot  into  the  stirrup,  and  holding  by  the  horse's  mane, 
threw  his  left  leg,  over  the  man's  head  and  the  back  of 
the  horse,  into  the  stirrup  on  the  other  side. 

The  Persian  cavalry  was  anciently  the  best  in  the 
East,  but  the  improved  incomparable  Arab  breed  of 
horses  was  not  then  in  existence.  The  modern  Per- 
sian horses  seldom  exceed  fourteen,  or  fourteen  and  a 
half  hands  high  ;  but  on  the  whole,  they  are  taller  than 
the  Arabs.  Their  usual  fodder  is  barley  and  chopped 
straw ;  and  they  are  fed  and  watered  only  at  sunrise 
and  sunset,  when  they  are  cleaned.  Their  bedding  is 
horsedung,  dried  in  the  sun,  and  pulverized.  They 
are  carefully  clad  in  clothing  suited  to  the  season,  and 
in  summer  they  are  kept  entirely  under  shade  during 
the  heat  of  the  day.  At  night,  besides  having  their 
heads  secured  with  double  ropes,  the  heels  of  their 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  173 

hind  legs  are  confined  by  cords  of  twisted  hair,  fast- 
ened to  iron  rings  and  pegs,  driven  into  the  earth.  The 
same  custom  prevailed  in  the  time  of  Xenophon,  and 
for  the  same  reason  :  to  secure  them  from  attacking, 
and  maiming  each  other.  As  a  further  precaution, 
their  keepers  always  sleep  on  the  rugs  amongst  them  ; 
but  sometimes,  notwithstanding  all  this  care,  they  break 
loose,  and  then  the  combat  ensues.  A  general  neigh- 
ing, screaming,  kicking,  and  snorting,  soon  rouses  the 
grooms,  and  the  scene  for  awhile  is  terrible.  Indeed 
no  one  can  conceive  the  sudden  uproar  of  such  a  mo- 
ment, who  has  not  been  in  Eastern  countries  to  hear  it. 
They  seize,  bite,  and  kick  each  other,  with  the  most 
determined  fury,  and  frequently  cannot  be  separated 
before  their  heads  and  haunches  stream  with  blood. 
Even  in  skirmishes  with  the  natives,  the  horses  take 
part  in  the  fray,  tearing  each  other  with  their  teeth, 
while  their  masters  are  at  similar  close  quarters  on 
their  backs. 

The  ancient  Persians  sedulously  taught  their  chil- 
dren three  things  :  to  ride,  to  shoot  with  the  bow,  and 
to  speak  the  truth.  Their  modern  descendants  never 
speak  the  truth  when  they  can  help  it ;  archers  they 
are  not,  although  notorious  for  drawing  the  long  bow  ; 
but  horsemanship  is  still  in  great  esteem  amongst  them. 
The  following  amusing  anecdote  is  related  by  Sir  John 
Malcolm : — 
.*'  Before  the  year  1800,"  he  says,  "  no  political  mis- 


174  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

sion  from  an  European  nation  had  visited  the  court  of 
Persia,  for  a  century ;  but  the  English,  though  only 
known  in  that  country  as  merchants,  had  fame  as  sol- 
diers, from  the  report  of  their  deeds  in  India.  An 
officer  of  one  of  the  frigates,  who  had  gone  ashore  to 
visit  the  Envoy,  when  mounted  on  a  spirited  horse, 
afforded  no  small  entertainment  to  the  Persians,  by  his 
bad  horsemanship.  The  next  day  the  man  who  sup- 
plied the  ship  with  vegetables,  and  who  spoke  a  little 
English,  met  him  on  board,  and  said, '  Don't  be  ashamed, 
sir,  nobody  knows  you  :  bad  rider  !  I  tell  them,  you, 
like  all  English,  ride  well,  but  that  time  they  see  you, 
very  drunk  !'  We  were  much  amused  at  this  concep- 
tion of  our  national  character.  The  Persian  thought 
it  would  have  been  a  reproach  for  a  man  of  a  warlike 
nation  not  to  ride  well,  but  none  for  an  European  to 
get  drunk." 

The  horses  of  the  Toorkmans,  or  Turkmans,  are 
much  esteemed  in  Persia,  and  in  the  adjacent  countries. 
Turkestan,  the  native  region  of  these  nomades,  lies 
northeast  of  the  Caspian,  but  their  tribes  are  widely 
dispersed  over  Persia,  Asia  Minor,  and  Syria.  Their 
horses  are  large,  swift,  and  possess  extraordinary 
powers  of  endurance,  though  their  figures  are  some- 
what ungainly.  When  a  Turkman  starts  on  an  ex- 
pedition, he  takes  with  him  some  hard  balls  of  barley 
meal,  which  are  to  serve  both  him  and  his  horse  for 
subsistence  until  his  return.  But  sometimes  in  cross- 


•f      * 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  175 

ing  the  Desert,  when  he  finds  himself  unusually 
faint  and  weary,  he  opens  the  jugular  vein  of  his 
horse,  and  drinks  a  little  of  the  animal's  blood,  by 
which  he  is  himself  refreshed,  and  thinks  that  the  horse 
too  is  relieved.  Some  of  these  men  and  horses  have 
been  known  to  travel  nine  hundred  miles  in  eleven 
successive  days. 

The  Othmanlis  or  Ottomans,  the  founders  of  the 
great  empire  that  bears  their  name,  were  a  branch  of 
the  Turkman  stock.  Othman,  the  founder  of  the 
dynasty,  was  the  chief  of  a  small  horde,  a  mere 
handful  of  men  ;  his  grandson  Amurath  I.  was  he  who 
conquered  Adrianople.  The  first  conquests  of  the 
Turks  were  achieved  by  freemen  ;  but,  after  the  tak- 
ing of  Constantinople,  a  new  military  institution  was 
established ;  and  the  relation  between  the  commander 
and  his  warlike  servants  resembled  much  more  the 
personal  subjection  of  the  Mamelukes  to  their  Beys, 
than  the  free  allegiance  owned  by  the  bands  of  the 
west  to  their  Condottieri.  The  invincible  army  of 
the  Sultan — the  terrible  cavalry  of  whom  it  was  pro- 
verbial, that 

—  where  the  Spahi's  hoof  hath  trod, 
The  verdure  flies  the  bloody  sod, 

and  the  Janissaries,  who  boasted  that  they  had  never 
fled  in  battle,  were  all  slaves  ;  torn  from  their  Christian 
parents  in  childhood,  and  reared  up  under  a  system  of 


176  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

discipline,  admirably  adapted  to  the  end  proposed. 
It  combined  the  hardihood  of  the  Spartans,  the 
strictness  and  deconim  of  the  monastic  rule,  with  every 
encouragement  that  could  nurture  the  aspiring  spirit, 
and  confirm  the  devoted  fidelity  of  the  young  soldier. 
The  youths  thus  brought  up,  forgot  their  childhood, 
their  parents,  their  homes ;  knew  no  native  land,  but 
the  Serai ;  no  lord  and  father,  but  the  Grand  Signer  ; 
no  will,  but  his  ;  no  hope,  but  of  his  favor  :  they  knew 
no  life,  but  one  passed  in  rigid  discipline  and  uncon- 
ditional obedience  ;  no  occupation  but  war,  in  the 
Sultan's  service  ;  no  personal  purpose,  unless  it  were 
plunder  in  this  life,  and,  in  death,  the  paradise  thrown 
open  to  him  who  fought  for  Islam.  The  glory  of  the 
Moslem  is  departed,  and  the  Sultan's  army  is  now  a 
rabble,  more  formidable  to  their  friends  than  to  their 
enemies — but  let  us  see  what  they  were  in  the  pleni- 
tude of  their  strength. 

First,  we  behold  the  Timarli  marshalled  beneath 
the  banners  of  their  respective  corps  ;  they  carry  bows 
and  quivers,  iron  maces  and  daggers,  scymitars  and 
lances  ;  they  know  how  to  use  these  various  weapons, 
at  the  right  moment,  with  the  utmost  dexterity  ;  they 
are  trained  with  rare  skill  to  pursue,  and  to  retire, 
now  to  hang  back  in  alert  suspense,  now  to  dash 
forward  and  scour  the  country.  Their  horses,  too, 
claim  attention ;  they  come  mostly  from  Syria,  where 
they  have  been  reared  with  the  utmost  care,  and 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  177 

fondled  almost  like  children.  Judges,  indeed,  objected 
that  they  were  somewhat  ticklish  to  the  stirrup,  apt 
to  swerve  aside,  and  hard-mouthed  ;  this,  however,  was 
rather  the  fault  of  the  riders,  who  used  severe  bits, 
and  short  stirrups  ;  otherwise  the  animals  were  docile, 
serviceable,  as  well  on  mountainous  and  stony  ground, 
as  on  the  plain ;  indefatigable,  and  always  full  of 
spirit.  The  most  accomplished  riders  were  furnished 
from  many  a  district.  It  was  surprising  to  see  them 
hurl  their  maces  before  them,  gallop  after  them,  and 
catch  them  again  ere  they  fell.  Turning  half  round, 
and  the  horses  at  full  speed,  they  would  discharge 
their  arrows  backwards,  with  unerring  aim.  Next  to 
these  the  Porte  sent  forth  its  paid  Spahis,  and  its 
Janissaries.  The  former,  in  addition  to  their  scymitars, 
were  armed  with  lances,  bearing  small  flags ;  some 
were  also  furnished  with  bows.  A  few  were  equipped 
with  coats  of  mail  and  morions,  but  rather  for  show 
than  for  service ;  their  round  shields,  and  their  turbans, 
seemed  to  them  defence  enough.  The  Janissaries, 
lastly,  marched  in  long  flowing  garments,  armed  with 
scymitars  and  arquebus  ;  in  their  girdles  the  handjar, 
and  the  small  hatchet ;  dense  in  their  array,  their 
plumes  like  a  forest.  It  was  as  though  the  camp  was 
the  true  home  of  this  people.  Not  only  was  it  kept 
in  admirable  order,  so  that  not  an  oath  or  altercation 
was  to  be  heard,  no  drunken  man,  no  gambling  was 
to  be  seen  in  it,  nor  anything  to  be  found  that  would 


178  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

offend  either  sight  or  smell ;  it  was  also  to  be  remarked, 
that  the  life  the  soldier  led  at  home  was  but  meagre 
and  sorry,  compared  with  the  magnificence  of  the 
camp.  For  every  ten  Janissaries,  the  Sultan  maintained 
a  horse  to  carry  their  baggage  ;  every  five  and  twenty 
had  a  tent,  that  served  them  in  common  ;  in  these 
they  observed  the  regulations  of  their  barracks,  and 
the  elder  were  waited  on  by  the  younger.  No  spahi 
was  so  mean  that  he  did  not  possess  a  tent  of  his  own. 
How  gallant  and  glittering  was  their  array,  as  they 
rode  in  their  silken  surcoats,  their  particolored,  richly 
wrought  shields  on  their  left  arms,  their  right  hands 
grasping  the  costly  mounted  sword,  feathers  of  all 
hues  waving  in  their  turbans  !  But  surpassingly 
splendid  was  the  appearance  of  their  leaders.  Jewels 
hung  from  their  horses'  ears,  and  studded  their  saddles 
and  housings ;  chains  of  gold  depended  from  their 
bridles.  The  tents  shone  with  Turkish  and  Persian 
decorations ;  here  the  booty  was  laid  up,  and  a 
numerous  retinue  of  eunuchs  and  slaves  were  in  at- 
tendance. 

The  modern  Turks,  in  general,  prefer  the  Turkman 
horse  to  the  more  slender  Arabian  of  pure  blood. 
Their  style  of  riding  is  very  trying  to  the  limbs  of  the 
animal,  their  most  favorite  manoeuvre  being  to  make 
a  dead  stop  when  galloping  at  the  utmost  speed.  In 
order  to  practise  this  injurious  trick,  they  use  a  terri- 
bly severe  bit,  which  destroys  all  the  fine  sensibility 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  179 

of  the  mouth.  The  Bedouins,  on  the  contrary,  never 
use  anything  more  severe  than  a  snaffle.  One  of  the 
most  precious  qualities  of  the  Turkman  horse,  accord- 
ing to  some  amateurs,  is,  the  admirable  instinct  with 
which  it  seconds  its  rider  in  the  fight,  and  itself  takes 
an  active  part  against  the  foe. 

Stevens,  in  his  travels  in  Egypt,  describes  a  curious 
scene,  highly  characteristic  of  the  Turk,  and  his  eques- 
trian sports  : 

"  It  was  an  excessively  hot  day,"  he  says  ;  "  you, 
who  were  hovering  over  your  coal  fires,  or  moving 
about  wrapped  in  cloaks  or  greatcoats,  can  hardly 
believe  that  on  the  20th  of  January  the  Arabs  were 
refreshing  their  heated  bodies  by  a  bath  in  the  Nile, 
and  that  I  was  lying  under  my  tent  actually  panting 
for  breath.  I  had  plenty  to  occupy  me,  but  the  heat 
was  too  intense  ;  the  sun  seemed  to  scorch  the  brain, 
while  the  sands  blistered  the  feet.  I  think  it  was  the 
hottest  day  I  experienced  on  the  Nile. 

"  While  leaning  on  my  elbow  looking  out  of  the 
door  of  my  tent  towards  the  temple  of  Luxor,  I  saw 
a  large  body  of  Arabs,  on  foot,  on  dromedaries,  and 
on  horseback,  coming  down  towards  the  river.  They 
came  about  half-way  across  the  sandy  plain  between 
the  temple  and  the  river,  and  stopped  nearly  opposite 
to  my  tent,  so  as  to  give  me  a  full  view  of  all  their 
movements.  The  slaves  and  pipe-bearers  immediate- 
ly spread  mats  on  the  sand,  on  which  the  principal 


180  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

persons  seated  themselves  ;  and,  while  they  were 
taking  coffee  and  pipes,  others  were  making  prepara- 
tions for  equestrian  exercises.  The  forms  and  cere- 
monies presented  to  my  mind  a  lively  picture  of 
preparing  the  lists  of  a  tournament ;  and  the  intense 
heat  and  scorching  sands  reminded  me  of  the  great 
passage  of  arms  in  Scott's  Crusaders,  near  the  Diamond 
of  the  Desert,  on  the  shores  of  the  Dead  Sea. 

"  The  parties  were  on  horseback,  holding  in  their 
right  hands  long  wooden  spears,  the  lower  ends  rest- 
ing on  the  sand,  close  together,  and  forming  a  pivot 
around  which  their  movements  were  made.  They 
rode  round  in  a  circle,  with  their  spears  in  the  sand, 
and  their  eyes  keenly  fixed  on  each  other,  watching 
an  opportunity  to  strike  ;  chased,  turned  and  doubled, 
but  never  leaving  the  pivot ;  occasionally  the  spears 
were  raised,  crossed,  and  struck  together,  and  a  mur- 
muring ran  through  the  crowd  like  the  cry  in  the 
fencing-scene  in  Hamlet,  '  a  hit,  a  fair  hit  !'  and  the 
parties  separated,  or  again  dropped  their  poles  in  the 
centre  for  another  round.  The  play  for  some  time 
seemed  confined  to  slaves  and  dependents  ;  and 
among  them,  and  decidedly  the  most  skilful,  was  a 
young  Nubian.  His  master,  a  Turk,  who  was  sitting 
on  the  mat,  seemed  particularly  pleased  with  his  suc- 
cess. 

"  The  whole  of  this  seemed  merely  a  preliminary, 
designed  to  stir  up  the  dormant  spirit  of  the  masters. 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  181 

For  a  long  time  they  sat  quietly  puffing  their  pipes, 
and  probably  longing  for  the  stimulus  of  a  battle-cry 
to  rouse  them  from  their  torpor.  At  length  one  of 
them,  the  master  of  the  Nubian,  slowly  rose  from 
the  mat,  and  challenged  an  antagonist.  Slowly  he 
laid  down  his  pipe,  and  took  and  raised  the  pole  in 
his  hand  ;  but  still  he  was  not  more  than  half  roused. 
A  fresh  horse  was  brought  him,  and,  without  taking 
off  his  heavy  cloth  mantle,  he  drowsily  placed  his  left 
foot  in  the  broad  shovel  stirrup,  his  right  on  the  rump 
of  the  horse,  behind  the  saddle,  and  swung  himself 
into  the  seat.  The  first  touch  of  the  saddle  seemed 
to  rouse  him  ;  he  took  the  pole  from  the  hand  of  his 
attendant,  gave  his  horse  a  severe  check,  and,  driving 
the  heavy  corners  of  the  stirrups  into  his  sides,  dashed 
through  the  sand  on  a  full  run.  At  the  other  end  of 
the  course  he  stopped,  rested  a  moment  or  two,  then 
again  driving  his  irons  into  his  horse,  dashed  back  at 
full  speed  ;  and  when  it  seemed  as  if  his  next  step 
would  carry  him  headlong  among  the  Turks  on  the 
mat,  with  one  jerk  he  threw  his  horse  back  on  his 
haunches,  and  brought  him  up  from  a  full  run  to  a 
dead  stop.  This  seemed  to  warm  him  a  little  ;  his 
attendant  came  up  and  took  off  his  cloak,  under  which 
he  had  a  red  silk  jacket  and  white  trowsers,  and  again 
he  dashed  through  the  sand  and  back  as  before.  This 
time  he  brought  up  his  horse  with  furious  vehemence  ; 
his  turban  became  unrolled,  he  flew  into  a  violent 


182  THE    HORSE    A.ND    HIS    RIDER. 

passion,  tore  it  off  and  threw  it  on  the  sand,  and, 
leaving  his  play,  fiercely  struck  the  spear  of  his  adver- 
sary, and  the  battle  at  once  commenced.  The  Turk, 
who  seemed  too  indolent  to  move,  now  showed  a  fire 
and  energy  and  an  endurance  of  fatigue,  that  would 
have  been  terrible  in  battle.  Both  horse  and  rider 
scorned  the  blazing  sun  and  burning  sands,  and  round 
and  round  they  ran,  chasing,  turning,  and  doubling 
within  an  incredibly  small  circle,  till  an  approving 
murmur  was  heard  among  the  crowd.  The  trial  was 
now  over,  and  the  excited  Turk  again  seated  himself 
upon  the  mat,  and  relapsed  into  a  state  of  calm  indif- 
ference." 


CHAPTER  X. 

Arabian  Horses. 

THE  modern  Arabs  have  three  breeds  of  horses,  the  At- 
terbi,  the  Kadishi,  and  the  Kohlani.  The  two  former 
are  drudges,  or  hackneys  ;  the  Kohlani  is  the  thorough- 
bred race;  and,  according  to  the  popular  legend,  is 
descended  from  the  favorite  mares  of  the  prophet. 
Mahomet,  as  the  story  runs,  was  once  engaged  in  battle 
for  three  days,  during  all  which  time  his  warriors  never 
dismounted,  nor  did  their  mares  eat  or  drink.  At  last, 
on  the  third  day,  they  came  to  a  river,  and  the  pro- 
phet ordered  that  the  animals  should  be  unbridled,  and 
turned  loose.  Mad  with  thirst,  the  whole  ten  thousand 
rushed  headlong  to  the  river,  and  just  as  they  were  on 
the  brink  the  prophet's  bugle  sounded  their  recall. 
Ten  thousand  mares  heard  the  call,  but  five  only  obey- 
it ;  and,  leaving  the  water  untasted,  returned  to  their 
standard.  Then  the  prophet  blessed  these  mares,  and 
adorned  their  eyelids  with  kohl,  after  the  manner  of 
the  women  in  the  East ;  hence  they  were  called 
Kohlani,  which  means  blackened.  They  were  ridden 


184  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

from  that  time  forth  by  the  prophet  himself,  and  his 
companions,  Ali,  Omar,  Abubekr,  and  Hassan,  and 
from  them  are  descended  all  the  noble  steeds  of 
Arabia. 

The  great  excellence  of  the  Arab  horse  is  owing 
partly  to  the  extreme  and  undeviating  care  of  the 
Bedouins  to  keep  up  the  purity  of  the  blood ;  and 
partly  to  the  friendly  and  familiar  treatment  the  ani- 
mal receives  in  its  master's  tent,  where  it  is  the  pet  of 
his  children,  and  a  watchful  observer  of  all  his  domes- 
tic concerns.  The  Bedouin's  mare  (they  never  ride 
horses)  displays  all  the  sagacity  and  fidelity  of  the  dog  ; 
she  will  never  suffer  her  sleeping  master  to  be  sur- 
prised by  his  foes  without  a  warning.  It  is,  therefore, 
no  wonder  that  to  obtain  Arab  mares,  by  purchase,  is 
a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  people  of  the 
desert  themselves  often  give  as  much  as  £200  for  a 
celebrated  mare,  not  to  be  sold  to  strangers.  The 
sum  of  .£500  has  even  been  given  ;  which,  consider- 
ing the  value  of  money  in  Arabia  and  Syria,  is  enor- 
mous. Burckhardt  mentions  a  sheckh,  who  had  a  mare 
of  great  celebrity,  for  the  half-share  in  the  ownership 
of  which  he  paid  £400.  This  subdivision  of  owner- 
ship is  very  curious.  Sir  John  Malcolm  was  informed 
that  the  property  in  a  brood  mare  was  sometimes  di- 
vided amongst  ten  or  twelve  Arabs. 

In  the  desert  a  mare  of  high  breed  is  seldom  sold 
without  the  seller  reserving  the  half,  or  two-thirds  of 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  185 

her.  If  he  sells  half,  the  buyer  takes  the  mare,  and  is 
obliged  to  let  the  seller  take  the  mare's  next  filly,  or 
the  buyer  may  keep  the  filly  and  return  the  mare.  If 
the  Arab  has  sold  but  one-third  of  the  mare,  the  pur- 
chaser takes  her  home,  but  must  give  the  seller  the 
fillies  of  two  years,  or  else  one  of  them  and  the  mare. 
The  fillies  of  all  subsequent  years  belong  to  the  buyer, 
as  well  as  all  the  male  colts  produced  on  the  first  or  any 
following  year.  It  thus  happens  that  most  of  the 
Arab  mares  are  the  joint  property  of  two  or  three  per- 
sons, or  even  of  half-a-dozen,  if  the  price  of  the  mare 
be  very  high.  A  mare  is  sometimes  sold  on  the  re- 
markable condition  that  all  the  booty  obtained  by  the 
man  who  rides  her  shall  be  shared  between  him  and 
the  seller. 

It  is  not  among  the  Arabs  alone  we  find  horses,  like 
ships,  shared  among  several  owners  :  the  same  thing 
prevails  in  some  parts  of  Ireland.  An  amusing  in- 
stance is  mentioned  in  Lord  George  Hill's  "  Facts 
from  Groeedore  :" — "  In  an  adjacent  island,  belonging 
to  this  estate,  three  men  were  concerned  in  one  horse  ; 
but  the  poor  brute  was  rendered  useless,  as  the  unfor- 
tunate foot  of  the  supernumerary  leg  remained  unshod, 
none  of  them  being  willing  to  acknowledge  its  depen- 
dency, and  accordingly  it  became  quite  lame.  There 
were  many  intestine  rows  upon  the  subject ;  at  length 
one  of  the  '  company'  came  to  the  main  land  and 
called  on  a  magistrate  for  advice,  stating,  that  the 


186  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

animal  was  entirely  useless  now  ;  that  he  had  not  only 
kept  decently  his  proper  hoof,  at  his  own  expense,  but 
had  shod  this  fourth  foot  twice  to  boot ;  yet  the  other 
two  proprietors  resolutely  refused  to  shoe  more  than 
their  own  foot" 

To  steal  a  horse  is  reckoned  in  the  Desert  code 
of  morals,  a  highly  honorable  exploit,  if  the  suf- 
ferer be  a  stranger  or  a  man  of  another  tribe,  which 
means  nearly  the  same  thing  as  an  enemy.  Each 
tribe  forms  as  it  were  a  distinct  nation,  occupying  a 
certain  tract  of  land,  over  which  it  roams  continually, 
in  proportion  as  the  pasture  is  exhausted  by  the  cattle. 
Now  as  the  whole  of  this  space  is  necessary  for  the 
annual  subsistence  of  the  tribe,  all  who  encroach  on 
it  are  regarded  as  enemies  and  robbers,  and  a  war 
breaks  out.  Events  of  this  kind  are  of  frequent  occur- 
rence, and  the  manner  of  proceeding  on  the  occasion 
is  very  simple.  The  offence  being  made  known,  they 
mount  their  horses,  and  endeavor  to  surprise  the 
aggressors'  camp,  and  plunder  their  cattle.  If  they 
find  the  enemy  prepared  to  meet  them,  a  parley 
ensues,  and  the  matter  is  frequently  made  up  ;  other- 
wise they  encounter  each  other  at  full  speed  with 
fixed  lances,  which  they  sometimes  dart,  notwith- 
standing their  length,  at  the  flying  foe.  The  victory 
is  rarely  contested ;  it  is  decided  by  the  first  shock ; 
and  the  vanquished  take  to  flight  full  gallop  over  the 
naked  plain  of  the  Desert.  Night  generally  favors 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  187 

their  escape  from  the  conqueror.  The  tribe,  which 
has  lost  the  battle,  strikes  its  tents,  removes  to  a 
distance  by  forced  marches,  and  seeks  an  asylum 
among  its  allies. 

Boundless  generosity  arid  insatiable  covetousness 
are  strangely  mingled  in  the  character  of  the  sons  of 
the  Desert.  Without  wishing  to  justify  the  Bedouin's 
spirit  of  rapine,  we  may  observe  that  it  is  displayed 
only  towards  reputed  enemies.  Among  themselves 
they  are  remarkable  for  a  good  faith,  a  disinterested- 
ness, a  generosity  that  would  do  honor  to  the  most 
civilized  people.  What  is  there  more  noble  than  that 
right  of  asylum  so  respected  among  all  the  tribes  ? 
A  stranger,  nay,  even  an  enemy,  touches  the  tent  of 
a  Bedouin,  and  from  that  instant  his  person  becomes 
inviolable.  It  would  be  reckoned  an  indelible  shame 
to  satisfy  even  a  just  vengeance  at  the  expense  of 
hospitality.  If  once  the  Bedouin  has  eaten  bread 
and  salt  with  his  guest  nothing  can  induce  him  to 
betray  him. 

A  Bedouin,  named  Jabal,  possessed  a  mare  of 
great  celebrity.  Hassad  Pacha,  then  governor  of 
Damascus,  wished  to  buy  the  animal,  and  repeatedly 
made  the  owner  the  most  liberal  offers,  which  Jabal 
steadily  refused.  The  pacha  then  had  recourse  to 
threats,  but  with  no  better  success.  At  length  one 
Gafar,  a  Bedouin  of  another  tribe,  presented  himself 
to  the  pacha,  and  asked  what  would  he  give  the  man 


188  THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

who  should  make  him  master  of  JabaPs  mare.  "  I 
will  fill  his  horse's  nosebag  with  gold,"  replied  Hassad, 
whose  pride  and  covetousness  had  been  irritated  to 
the  highest  degree  by  the  obstinacy  of  the  mare's 
owner.  The  result  of  this  interview  having  gone 
abroad,  Jabal  became  more  watchful  than  ever  ;  and 
always  secured  his  mare  at  night  with  an  iron  chain, 
one  end  of  which  was  fastened  round  her  hind  fetlock, 
whilst  the  other,  after  passing  through  the  tent  cloth, 
was  attached  to  a  picket  driven  into  the  ground  under 
the  felt  that  served  himself  and  his  wife  for  a  bed. 
But  one  midnight  Gafar  crept  into  the  tent,  and,  in- 
sinuating his  body  between  Jabal  and  his  wife,  he 
pressed  gently  now  against  the  one,  now  against  the 
other,  so  that  the  sleepers  made  room  for  him  right  and 
left,  neither  of  them  doubting  that  the  pressure  came 
from  the  other.  This  being  done,  Gafar  slit  the  felt 
with  a  sharp  knife,  drew  out  the  picket,  loosed  the 
mare,  and  sprang  on  her  back.  Just  before  starting 
off  with  his  prize,  he  caught  up  Jabal's  lance,  and 
poking  him  with  the  butt  end,  cried  out,  "  I  am 
Gafar  !  I  have  stolen  your  noble  mare,  and  I  give  you 
notice  in  time."  This  warning,  be  it  observed,  was 
in  accordance  with  the  usual  practice  of  the  Desert  on 
such  occasions  :  to  rob  a  hostile  tribe  is  considered  an 
honorable  exploit,  and  the  man  who  accomplishes  it 
is  desirous  of  all  the  glory  that  may  flow  from  the 
deed.  Poor  Jabal,  when  he  heard  the  words,  rushed 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  189 

out  of  the  tent  and  gave  the  alarm  ;  then  mounting 
his  brother's  mare,  and  accompanied  by  some  of  his 
tribe,  he  pursued  the  robber  for  four  hours.  The 
brother's  mare  was  of  the  same  stock  as  Jabal's,  but 
was  not  equal  to  her;  nevertheless,  she  outstripped 
those  of  all  the  other  pursuers,  and  was  even  on  the 
point  of  overtaking  the  robber,  when  Jabal  shouted  to 
him,  "  Pinch  her  right  ear,  and  give  her  a  touch  of 
the  heel."  Gafar  did  so,  and  away  went  the  mare 
like  lightning,  speedily  rendering  all  further  pur- 
suit hopeless.  The  pinch  in  the  ear  and  the  touch 
with  the  heel,  were  the  secret  signs  by  which  Jabal  had 
been  used  to  urge  the  mare  to  her  utmost  speed. 
Every  Bedouin  trains  the  animal  he  rides,  to  obey 
some  sign  of  this  kind,  to  which  he  has  recourse  only 
on  urgent  occasions,  and  which  he  makes  a  close  se- 
cret, not  to  be  divulged  even  to  his  son.  Jabal's 
comrades  were  amazed  and  indignant  at  his  strange 
conduct ;  "  O  thou  father  of  a  jackass  !  "  they  cried, 
"  thou  hast  helped  the  thief  to  rob  thee  of  thy  jewel  !" 
But  he  silenced  their  upbraidings,  by  saying,  "  I 
would  rather  lose  her  than  sully  her  reputation. 
Would  you  have  me  suffer  it  to  be  said  among  the 
tribes,  that  another  mare  had  proved  fleeter  than 
mine  ?  I  have  at  least  this  comfort  left  me,  that  I 
can  say  she  never  met  with  her  match." 

The  trick  of  jockeys,  as  above-mentioned,   is  not 
peculiar  to  the  desert ;  we  trace  it  even  in  the  Western 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER. 

world.  The  celebrated  clockmaker  Sam  Slick,  talk- 
ing over  a  racing  project,  in  which  he  expects  to  take 
in  the  knowing  ones,  by  deceiving  them  as  to  the 
fleetness  of  his  favorite  horse,  Clay,  expresses  himself 
thus  :  "  Clay  is  as  cunning  as  a  'coon  (racoon)  ;  if 
he  don't  get  the  word  g'lang  (go  along)  and  the 
Indgyan  skelpin'  yell  with  it,  he  knows  I  ain't  in 
airnest : — he'll  purtend  to  do  his  best,  and  sputter 
away  like  a  hen  scratchin'  gravel,  but  he  won't  go  one 
mossel  faster." 

There  was  in  the  tribe  of  Negne  a  mare  no  less 
renowned  than  Jabal's,  which  Daher,  a  man  of 
another  tribe,  had  bent  his  whole  soul  on  possessing. 
Having  in  vain  offered  his  camels  and  all  his  wealth 
for  her,  he  determined  to  compass  his  ends  by  strata- 
gem. He  stained  his  face  with  herbs,  dressed  him- 
self in  rags,  and  tied  up  his  legs  so  as  to  give  himself 
the  appearance  of  a  crippled  beggar.  In  this  plight, 
he  laid  himself  down  on  a  spot  where  he  knew  that 
Nabee,  the  owner  of  the  mare,  would  pass,  and  as 
soon  as  he  saw  him,  he  began  to  implore  piteously  for 
help,  saying,  he  was  unable  to  move,  and  was  dying 
of  hunger.  Nabee  told  the  poor  wretch  to  mount 
behind  him,  and  he  would  take  him  to  his  own  tent, 
and  supply  his  wants.  "  May  your  bounty  be  ex- 
tolled," replied  the  pretended  cripple,  "  but  I  am 
unable  to  mount  without  assistance."  Thereupon  the 
compassionate  Nabee  dismounted,  and  with  much 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  191 

difficulty  hoisted  the  suppliant  into  the  saddle.  As 
soon  as  Daher  felt  himself  firmly  seated,  he  clapped 
heels  to  the  mare  and  started  off,  shouting,  "  I  am 
Daher,  and  your  mare  is  mine."  The  plundered  man 
called  out  to  him  to  stop  and  hear  what  he  had  to  say, 
and  the  thief,  knowing  he  was  safe  from  pursuit,  turned 
and  halted,  just  out  of  reach  of  Nabee's  lance.  "  You 
have  seized  my  mare,"  said  the  latter  ;  "  since  it  is 
the  will  of  Allah,  I  wish  you  prosperity,  but  I  beseech 
you  do  not  tell  any  one  how  you  came  by  her." 
"  And  why  not  ?"  said  Daher.  "  Because  another 
person  might  be  really  afflicted  and  be  left  without 
succor.  Were  you  to  tell  the  tale,  the  consequence 
would  be,  that  no  one  would  do  a  single  act  of  charity, 
for  fear  of  being  duped  like  me." 

Struck  by  these  words,  Daher  instantly  dismounted, 
restored  the  mare  to  her  owner,  and  embraced  him. 
Nabee  went  home  with  him  as  his  guest  ;  they 
remained  together  three  days,  and  became  sworn 
brothers. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Feral  Horses  of  America — Indians  and  Gauchos. 

THE  multiplication  of  horses  in  America,  since  their 
introduction  by  the  Spanish  conquerors,  has  been  pro- 
digious. Innumerable  herds,  each  consisting  of  many 
thousand  animals,  roam  over  the  plains  of  both  conti- 
nents, from  Patagonia  to  the  south-western  prairies  of 
North  America ;  and  notwithstanding  the  warfare 
waged  on  them  by  man,  by  whom  they  are  slaughtered 
for  their  hides  alone,  their  numbers  would  increase  to 
a  pernicious  excess,  were  it  not  for  the  destruction 
caused  among  them  by  floods  and  droughts.  The 
supply  of  water  often  fails  in  the  sultry  plains,  and  then 
the  horses,  tortured  to  madness,  rush  into  the  first 
marsh  or  pool  they  can  find,  trampling  each  other  to 
death.  Rivers  have  been  rendered  quite  impassable 
by  the  stench  of  thousands  that  had  plunged  into  them 
to  slake  their  thirst,  and  had  been  drowned,  being  too 
much  exhausted  to  crawl  up  the  muddy  banks.  The 
beds  of  many  streams  in  the  Pampas  are  paved  with  a 
breccia  of  bones  thus  deposited.  The  periodical 
swellings  of  the  rivers  are  no  less  fatal  to  them.  The 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  193 

masses  may  be  seen  during  the  season  of  high  water 
swimming  about  followed  by  their  colts,  and  feeding 
on  the  tall  grass,  of  which  the  tops  alone  wave  above 
the  waters.  Thus  they  lead  for  some  time  an  amphibi- 
ous life,  surrounded  by  alligators,  water  serpents,  and 
other  carnivorous  reptiles,  the  marks  of  whose  teeth 
are  often  printed  on  their  thighs.  The  impetuous  rush 
of  a  herd  of  wild  horses,  impelled  either  by  some  panic 
or  by  raging  thirst,  is  called  a  stampedo :  one  of  them 
is  thus  described  in  Murray's  Travels  in  North 
America : — 

"  About  an  hour,"  he  says,  "  after  the  usual  time 
to  secure  the  horses  for  the  night,  an  indistinct  sound 
arose  like  the  muttering  of  distant  thunder  ;  as  it  ap- 
proached it  became  mixed  with  the  howling  of  all  the 
dogs  in  the  encampment,  and  with  the  shouts  and 
yells  of  the  Indians ;  in  coming  nearer,  it  rose  high 
above  all  these  accompaniments,  and  resembled  the 
lashing  of  a  heavy  surf  upon  a  beach.  On  and  on  it 
rolled  towards  us,  and,  partly  from  my  own  hearing, 
partly  from  the  hurried  words  and  actions  of  the 
tenants  of  our  lodge,  I  gathered  it  must  be  the  fierce 
and  uncontrollable  gallop  of  thousands  of  panic- 
stricken  horses.  As  this  living  torrent  drew  nigh,  I 
sprang  to  the  front  of  the  tent,  seized  my  favorite 
riding-mare,  and,  in  addition  to  the  hobbles  which 
confined  her,  twisted  the  long  lariett  round  her  fore- 
legs ;  then  led  her  immediately  in  front  of  the  fire, 
10 


194  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

hoping  that  the  excited  and  maddened  flood  of  horses 
would  divide  and  pass  on  each  side  of  it.  As  the  gal- 
lopping  mass  drew  nigh,  our  horses  began  to  snort,  prick 
up  their  ears,  and  then  to  tremble  ;  and  when  it  burst 
upon  us  they  became  completely  ungovernable  from 
terror;  all  broke  loose,  and  joined  their  affrighted 
companions,  except  my  mare,  which  struggled  with 
the  fury  of  a  wild  beast ;  and  I  only  retained  her  by 
using  all  my  strength,  and  at  last  throwing  her  on  her 
side.  On  went  the  maddened  troop,  trampling,  in 
their  headlong  speed,  over  skins,  dried  meat,  &c.,  and 
throwing  down  some  of  the  smaller  tents.  They  were 
soon  lost  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  in  the  wilds 
of  the  prairie,  and  nothing  more  was  heard  of  them 
save  the  distant  yelping  of  the  curs  who  continued  their 
ineffectual  pursuit." 

Where  there  is  such  a  profusion  of  horses,  the 
people  cannot  fail  to  be  all  riders  ;  and  such  they 
are,  bold  and  expert  beyond  all  comparison  with  other 
nations.  The  Indians  of  the  Pampas  and  the  Prairies, 
whose  forefathers  fled  in  horror  and  dismay  from  the 
fatal  apparition  of  the  Spanish  horses,  are  now  literally 
incorpsed  and  deminatured  with  the  brave  beast. 
Many  of  the  tribes,  from  being  constantly  on  horse- 
back from  their  infancy,  can  scarcely  walk.  Their 
legs  have  become  too  weak,  from  long  disuse,  for  that 
kind  of  progression,  and  they  loathe  and  despise  it. 
The  proudest  attitude  of  the  human  figure,  as  they 


THE    HORSE    AND   HIS    RIDER.  195 

declare,  is  when  a  man,  bending  over  his  horse,  lance 
in  hand,  is  riding  at  his  enemy.  The  occupation  of 
their  lives  is  war,  especially  against  "  the  Christians," 
and  they  pursue  it  for  two  objects, — to  steal  cattle, 
and  for  the  pleasure  of  murdering  the  people  ;  and 
they  will  even  leave  the  cattle  to  massacre  and  tor- 
ture their  enemies,  such  is  their  ferocity,  and  their 
hereditary  hatred  to  the  descendants  of  the  cruel 
oppressors  of  their  fathers.  The  Guachos,  who  them- 
selves ride  so  beautifully,  declare  that  it  is  impossible 
to  vie  with  a  mounted  Indian ;  for  that  the  Indians' 
horses  are  better  than  their  own,  and  also  that  they 
have  such  a  way  of  urging  them  on  by  their  cries, 
and  by  a  peculiar  motion  of  their  bodies,  that  even 
if  they  were  to  change  horses,  the  Indians  would  beat 
them.  Mr.  Darwin  related  a  case  in  which  this  fact 
was  proved. 

At  Cholechel,  Bahia-Blanca,  General  Rosas'  troops 
encountered  a  tribe  of  Indians,  and  they  killed  twenty 
or  thirty  of  them.  The  cacique  escaped  in  a  manner 
which  surprised  every  one :  the  chief  Indians  have 
always  one  or  two  picked  horses,  which  they  keep 
ready  for  any  urgent  occasion.  On  one  of  these,  an 
old  white  horse,  the  cacique  sprung,  taking  with  him 
his  little  son :  the  horse  had  neither  saddle  nor  bridle. 
To  avoid  the  shots  the  Indian  rode  in  the  peculiar 
method  of  his  nation,  namely,  with  an  arm  round  the 
horse's  neck,  and  one  leg  only  on  its  back.  Thus 


196  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

hanging  on  one  side  he  was  seen  patting  the  horse's 
head,,  and  talking  to  him.  The  pursuers  urged  every 
effort  in  the  chase  ;  the  commandant  three  times 
changed  his  horse,  but  all  in  vain  :  the  old  Indian 
father  and  his  son  escaped,  and  were  free.  What  a 
fine  picture  one  can  form  in  one's  mind ;  the  naked 
bronze-like  figure  of  the  old  man  with  his  little  boy, 
riding  like  a  Mazeppa  on  the  white  horse,  thus  leaving 
far  behind  him  the  host  of  his  pursuers  ! 

Colt-breaking  is  managed  by  the  Guachos,  or 
Quassos,  as  they  are  called  in  Chili,  with  the  lasso, 
much  in  the  same  way  as  by  the  Kalmucks.  Their 
skill  in  the  use  of  this  instrument  is  extraordinary, 
and  it  was  a  weapon  of  great  power  in  their  hands 
during  the  war  of  independence.  They  never  failed 
to  dismount  cavalry  with  it,  or  to  throw  dawn  the 
horses  of  those  who  came  within  their  reach.  There 
is  a  well-authenticated  story  of  eight  or  ten  Guachos 
who  had  never  seen  a  piece  of  artillery  until  one 
was  fired  at  them  in  the  streets  of  Buenos  Ayres. 
Notwithstanding  the  effect  of  the  fire,  they  galiop- 
ped  fearlessly  up  to  it,  placed  their  lassos  over  the 
cannon,  and  by  their  united  strength  fairly  overturn- 
ed it. 

Another  anecdote  is  related  of  them,  which  does 
not  rest  on  such  good  authority.  A  number  of  armed 
boats  were  sent  to  effect  a  landing  at  a  certain  point 
on  the  coast  guarded  solely  by  these  horsemen.  The 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  197 

parly  in  the  boats,  caring  little  for  an  enemy  unpro- 
vided with  fire-arms,  rowed  confidently  along  the 
shore.  The  Guassos  meanwhile  were  watching  their 
opportunity,  and  the  moment  the  boats  came  suffi- 
ciently near,  dashed  into  the  water,  and  throwing  their 
lassos  round  the  necks  of  the  officers,  fairly  dragged 
every  one  of  them  out  of  their  boats. 

The  idea  of  being  thrown,  let  the  horse  do  what 
it  likes,  never  enters  the  head  of  a  Guacho  :  a  good 
rider  is  a  man  who  can  manage  an  untamed  colt,  or 
who,  if  his  horse  falls,  alights  on  his  own  feet,  or  can 
perform  other  such  exploits.  "  I  have  heard,"  says 
Mr.  Darwin,  "  of  a  man  betting  that  he  would  throw 
his  horse  down  twenty  times,  and  that  nineteen  out 
of  these  he  would  not  fall  himself.  I  recollect  seeing 
a  Guacho  riding  a  very  stubborn  horse,  which  three 
times  reared  so  excessively  high  as  to  fall  backwards 
with  great  violence.  The  man  judged  with  uncom- 
mon coolness  the  proper  moment  for  slipping  off,  not 
an  instant  before  or  after  the  right  time.  Directly 
the  horse  rose,  the  man  jumped  on  his  back,  and  at 
last  they  started  at  a  gallop.  The  Guacho  never 
appears  to  exert  any  muscular  force.  I  was  one  day 
watching  a  good  rider,  as  we  were  gallopping  along 
at  a  rapid  pace,  and  thought  to  myself,  surely  if  the 
horse  starts,  you  appear  so  careless  on  your  seat,  you 
must  fall.  At  this  moment  a  male  ostrich  sprang 
from  its  nest  right  beneath  the  horse's  nose.  The 


198  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    KIDEK, 

young  colt  bounded  on  one  side  like  a  stag ;  but  as 
for  the  man,  all  that  could  be  said  was,  that  he  started 
and  took  fright  as  part  of  his  horse. 

"  In  Chili  and  Peni  more  pains  are  taken  with 
the  mouth  of  the  horse  than  in  La  Plata,  and  this  is 
evidently  in  consequence  of  the  more  intricate  nature 
of  the  country.  In  Chili  a  horse  is  not  considered 
perfectly  broken  till  he  can  be  brought  up  standing 
in  the  midst  of  his  full  speed  on  any  particular  spot  ; 
for  instance,  on  a  cloak  thrown  on  the  ground  ;  or 
until  he  will  charge  a  wall,  and,  rearing,  scrape  the 
surface  with  his  hoofs.  I  have  seen  an  animal  bound- 
ing with  spirit,  yet  merely  reined  by  a  fore-finger  and 
thumb,  taken  at  full  gallop  across  a  court-yard,  and- 
then  made  to  wheel  round  the  post  of  a  verandah 
with  great  speed,  but  at  so  equal  a  distance,  that  the 
rider,  with  outstretched  arm  all  the  while,  kept  one 
finger  rubbing  the  post  ;  then  making  a  demivolte  in 
the  air,  with  the  other  arm  outstretched  in  a  like 
manner,  he  wheeled  round  with  astonishing  force  in 
an  opposite  direction. 

"  Such  a  horse  is  well  broken,  and  though  this  at 
first  may  appear  useless,  it  is  far  otherwise  :  it  is  only 
carrying  that  which  is  daily  necessary  into  perfection. 
When  a  bullock  is  checked  and  caught  by  the  lasso, 
it  will  sometimes  gallop  round  and  round  in  a  circle, 
and  the  horse  being  alarmed  at  the  great  strain,  if  not 
well  broken,  will  not  readily  turn  like  the  pivot  of  a 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  199 

wheel.  In  consequence,  many  men  have  been  killed ; 
for  if  the  lasso  once  makes  a  twist  round  a  man's 
body,  it  will  instantly,  from  the  power  of  the  two 
opposed  animals,  almost  cut  him  in  twain. 

"  In  Chili  I  was  told  an  anecdote  which  I  believe 
was  true,  and  it  offers  a  good  illustration  of  the  use 
of  a  well  broken  animal.  A  respectable  man,  riding 
one  day,  met  two  others,  one  of  whom  was  mounted 
on  a  horse  which  he  knew  to  have  been  stolen  from 
himself.  He  challenged  them  ;  they  answered  by 
drawing  their  sabres  and  giving  chase.  The  man  on 
his  good  and  fleet  beast  kept  just  ahead  ;  as  he  passed 
a  thick  bush  he  wheeled  round  it,  and  brought  up  his 
horse  to  a  dead  check.  The  pursuers  were  obliged 
to  shoot  on  one  side  and  ahead.  Then  instantly  dash- 
ing on  right  behind  them,  he  buried  his  knife  in  the 
back  of  one,  wounded  the  other,  recovered  his  horse 
from  the  dying  robber,  and  rode  home.  For  these 
feats  in  horsemanship  two  things  are  necessary  ;  a 
most  severe  bit,  like  the  Mameluke,  the  power  of 
which,  though  seldom  used,  the  horse  knows  full 
well  ;  and  large  blunt  spurs,  that  can  be  applied 
either  as  a  mere  touch  or  as  an  instrument  of  extreme 
pain.  I  conceive  that  with  English  spurs,  the  slight- 
est touch  of  which  pricks  the  skin,  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  break  a  horse  after  the  South  American 
fashion." 

"Nothing  is  done  on  foot  by  the  Guachos  that  can 


200  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

possibly  be  done  on  horseback.  Even  mounted  beg- 
garmen  are  to  be  seen  in  the  streets  of  Buenos  Ayres 
and  Mendoza.  The  butcher,  of  course,  plies  his  trade 
on  horseback,  in  the  manner  thus  described  by  Basil 
Hall  : — "  The  cattle  had  been  driven  into  an  enclo- 
sure or  corral,  whence  they  were  now  let  out  one  by 
one,  and  killed ;  but  not  in  the  manner  practised  in 
England,  where  they  are  dragged  into  a  house,  and 
despatched  by  blows  on  the  forehead  with  a  pole-axe. 
Here  the  whole  took  place  in  the  open  air,  and  re- 
sembled rather  the  catastrophe  of  a  grand  field-sport 
than  a  deliberate  slaughter.  On  a  level  space  of 
ground  before  the  corral  were  ranged,  in  a  line,  four 
or  five  Guachos  on  horseback,  with  their  lassos  all 
ready  in  their  hands,  and  opposite  them  another  set  of 
men,  similarly  equipped,  so  as  to  form  a  wide  lane, 
extending  from  the  gate  of  the  corral  to  the  distance 
of  thirty  or  forty  yards.  When  all  was  prepared, 
the  leader  of  the  Guachos  drew  out  the  bars  closing 
the  entrance  to  the  corral,  and,  riding  in,  separated 
one  from  the  drove,  which  he  goaded  till  it  escaped 
at  the  opening.  The  reluctance  of  the  cattle  to  quit 
the  corral  was  evident,  but"  when  at  length  forced  to 
do  so,  they  dashed  forward  with  the  utmost  impetu- 
osity. It  is  said,  that  in  this  country  even  the  wildest 
animals  have  an  instinctive  horror  of  the  lasso  ;  those 
in  a  domestic  state  certainly  have,  and  betray  fear 
whenever  they  see  it.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  moment 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS   RIDER.  201 

they  pass  the  gate,  they  spring  forward  at  full  speed 
with  all  the  appearance  of  terror.  But  were  they  to 
go  ten  times  faster,  it  would  avail  them  nothing 
against  the  irresistible  lasso,  which,  in  the  midst  of 
dust  and  a  confusion  seemingly  inextricable,  is  placed 
by  the  Guachos,  with  the  most  perfect  correctness, 
over  the  parts  aimed  at.  There  cannot  be  conceived 
a  more  spirited  or  a  more  picturesque  scene  than  was 
now  presented  to  us.  Let  the  furious  beast  be  ima- 
gined, driven  almost  to  madness  by  thirst  and  a  variety 
of  irritations,  and  in  the  utmost  terror  at  the  multitude 
of  lassos  whirling  all  around  him  ;  he  rushes  wildly 
forward,  his  eyes  flashing  fire,  his  nostrils  almost 
touching  the  ground,  and  his  breath  driving  off  the 
dust  in  his  course.  For  one  short  instant  he  is 
free,  and  full  of  life  and  strength,  defying,  as  it  were, 
all  the  world  to  restrain  him  in  his  headlong  course  ; 
the  next  moment  he  is  covered  with  lassos  ;  his  horns, 
his  neck,  his  legs,  are  all  encircled  by  those  inevitable 
cords,  hanging  loose,  in  long  festoons,  from  the  hands 
of  the  horsemen,  galloping  in  all  directions,  but  the 
next  instant  as  tight  as  bars  of  iron,  and  the  noble 
animal  lying  prostrate  on  the  ground  motionless  and 
helpless.  He  is  immediately  despatched  by  a  man  on 
foot,  who  stands  ready  for  this  purpose  with  a  long 
sharp  knife  in  his  hand ;  and  as  soon  as  the  body  is 
disentangled  from  the  lassos,  it  is  drawn  on  one  side, 
10* 


202  THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER. 

and  another  beast  is  driven  out  of  the  corral,  and 
caught  in  the  same  manner. 

"  While  the  more  serious  business  was  going  on,  a 
parcel  of  mischievous  boys  had  perched  themselves  on 
a  pile  of  fire  wood  close  to  the  corral ;  and  being  each 
armed  in  his  way,  with  a  lasso  made  of  a  small  strip 
of  hide,  or  of  whipcord,  got  the  first  chance  to  noose 
the  animals  as  they  rushed  out.  They  seldom  failed 
to  throw  successfully,  but  their  slender  cords  broke 
like  cobwebs.  One  wicked  urchin  indeed,  more  bold 
than  the  rest,  mounted  himself  on  a  donkey  that  hap- 
pened to  be  on  the  spot ;  and  taking  the  lasso  which 
belonged  to  it — for  no  description  of  animal  that  is 
ever  mounted  is  without  this  essential  equipment — 
and  placing  himself  so  as  not  to  be  detected  by  the 
men,  he  threw  it  gallantly  over  the  first  bullock's  neck. 
As  soon  as  it  became  tight,  away  flew  the  astonished 
donkey  and  his  rider :  the  terrified  boy  soon  tumbled 
off ;  but  poor  Neddy  was  dragged  along  the  ground, 
till  a  more  efficient  force  was  made  to  co-operate  with 
his  unavailing  resistance." 

The  immense  abundance  of  horses  in  South  Ame- 
rica cannot  be  more  strongly  exemplified  than  by  the 
following  statement. 

"  I  have  still  in  my  possession,"  says  Mr.  Robert- 
son, "  a  contract  which  I  made  in  Goya,  with  an 
estonciero,  for  twenty  thousand  wild  horses,  to  be 
taken  on  his  estate  at  the  price  of  a  media  each  ;  that 


THE    HORSE    AND    HIS    RIDER.  203 

is  to  say  threepence  for  each  horse  or  mare  !  The 
slaughter  of  them  cost  threepence  a-head  more  ;  the 
staking  and  cleaning  of  the  hides  once  more,  three- 
pence ;  and  lastly,  a  like  sum  for  the  carting  to  Goya ; 
making  the  whole  not  one  shilling  for  each  skin.  Of 
this  contract  ten  thousand  animals  were  delivered  ;  the 
skins  were  packed  in  bales  and  sold  in  Buenos  Ayres 
at  six  reals,  or  three  shillings  each,  and  they  sold  ulti- 
mately in  England  for  seven  or  eight  shillings,  that  is 
for  about  twenty-eight  or  thirty  times  the  first  cost  of 
the  horse  from  which  the  skin  was  taken.  Such  is 
the  accumulative  value  sometimes  of  the  produce 
which  is  taken  from  the  hands  of  the  grower  in  one 
country  before  it  gets  into  the  hands  of  the  consumer 
in  another." 


THE    END. 


CORRESPONDENCE  OF  SCHILLER  AND 
GOETHE. 

Correspondence  between  Schiller  and  Goethe,  from  1794  to 
1805.  Translated  by  George  H.  Calvert.  1  vol.  12mo., 
handsomely  printed.  $1  00. 

These  "  Letters  between  Schiller  and  Goethe"  are  a  record 
kept  by  friendship  of  the  habitual  feelings  and  thoughts  of  two 
great  poets.  If  the  translator  has  adequately  executed  his  grate- 
ful task,  he  will  have  the  pleasure  of  opening  to  the  American 
and  English  reader  the  richest  epistolary  treasure  that  literature 
contains.  There  is  no  other  instance  of  affectionate  union  be-? 
tween  two  men  of  such  genius,  intellect,  and  culture. 

"  In  perusing  this  delightful  work,  we  gather  many  new  ideas  upon  the  I 
^  writings  of  the  great  men  of  other  times." — U.  S.  Gazette. 

s     "  This  is  a  beautiful  volume,  which  literary  men  must  always  look  over 
<  with  interest" — The  JVortA  American. 

"  A  most  delightful  work,  that  will  instruct  as  well  as  amuse." — Providence 
Journal. 

"  This  volume,  as  soon  as  known,  must  be  ecgerly  sought  for  by  every  one 
(  for  its  very  excellence  ;  the  translator  does  not  exaggerate  hi  calling  this  the 
richest  epistolary  treasure  that  literature  contains." — Richmond  Time*. 

"Those  who  seek  into  the  true  philosophy  of  great  minds  will  find  ample 
compensation  in  the  perusal  of  these  letters,  remarkable  alike  for  the  breadth 
and  variety  of  thought  they  involve,  as  well  as  the  vastness  of  subjects,  often 
handled  by  these  great  men  with  the  familiarity  of  boys  whipping  a  top  or 
flying  a  kite. 

"  These  letters  are  full  of  heart  and  soul — such  letters  as  might  be  expected 
to  pass  between  two  affectionate  friends.  They  are  full  of  the  highest  order 
of  genius — genius  which  has  rarely  been  equalled  in  modern  times.  They  are 
full  of  the  German  mind — are  marked  by  those  striking  peculiarities  of  thought 
which  distinguish  the  Germans  from  every  other  nation  on  earth." — American 
Citizen. 

"  Epistolary  literature  contains  no  richer  treasure.  To  minds  like  theirs,  \ 
every  department  of  science,  literature,  religion,  and  philosophy,  possessed  an  ' 
engrossing  interest ;  and  in  their  cordial  and  confidential  effusions,  all  these  i 
topics  are  discussed  and  illustrated  with  unsurpassed  profundity  of  thought  > 
and  comprehensiveness  of  knowledge. 

"  The  translator  has  executed  his  task  as  one  who  performs  a  labor  that  ha 
loves." — Journal  of  Commerce. 

"The  work  is  one  that  none  can  read  without  an  expansion  of  thought,  and 
without  feeling  that  here  is  most  unequivocally  rebutted  the  scandal  that 
asserts  that  men  of  literature  are  deficient  in  hearty  appreciation  of  the  talents 
and  productions  of  each  other." — Evening  Gazette. 

"  Every  one  who  knows  any  thing  of  the  history  of  modern  literature,  knows 
that  Schiller  and  Goethe  are  among  the  brightest  names  by  which  it  is  em 
blazoned.  And  in  this  volume  we  are  permitted  to  catch  a  glance  at  the 
.  friendly  and  delightful  intercourse  which  they  held  with  each  other,  during 
.'  the  period  in  which  each  shone  with  the  brightest  lustre.  The  letters  are 
'  characterized  by  all  the  ease  of  the  most  unsuspecting  confidence,  and  by  a 
'  grace  and  fascination  which  must  entrance  every  admirer  of  genius.  They  are 
'•  perfectly  unstudied  efforts,  and  show  us  how  gracefully  great  minds  can  occa- 
I  skmally  come  down  to  little  things.  There  is  not  a  page,  or  scarcely  a  paragraph, 
i  in  which  we  do  not  discover  the  breathings  of  superlative  genius." — 
)  Mvertiter. 


WAQ8TAFP8   HISTORY  OF  THE  QUAKERS. 

A  History  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  compiled  from  its  stan- 
dard records,  and  other  authentic  sources.  By  W.  R. 
WagstafF,  M.D.  One  handsome  volume,  8vo.  $2  00. 

"  This  seems  to  us  to  be  a  work  of  decided  value  and  of  greatest  interest,  not 
only  to  professedly  theological  students,  but  to  all  who  wish  to  acquaint  them- 
selves with  the  progress  of  peculiar  principles,  or  the  growth  of  peculiar  sects. 
In  this  excellent  work  he  has  given  very  full  and  very  interesting  biographical 
sketches  of  all  the  men  who  were  active  in  establishing,  or  who  have  made 
illustrious  the  character  and  history  of  the  Society.  The  work  exhibits  a  close 
acquaintance  with  his  subject,  and  a  careful  industry  in  examining  authentic 
records  concerning  it,  and  is  written  in  a  style  which  must  attract  and  reward 
attention."— JV.  Y.  Courier. 

"  This  book  is  one  that  was  much  needed ;  and  it  will  do  good.  The  intro- 
duction is  a  very  perspicuous  history  of  Christianity  prior  to  the  times  of 
George  Fox ;  and  it  brings  down  the  history  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  Eng- 
land from  its  origin  to  the  year  1736.  The  work  will  prove  very  attractive  and 
popular,  and  we  can  confidently  recommend  it  to  all  classes,  for  they  will  find 
in  it  the  history  of  persecuted  goodness,  plainly  and  charitably  told,  in  all  the 
simplicity  of  truth." — Philad.  Inquirer. 

"  It  is  somewhat  singular,  that  almost  every  writer  belonging  to  the  Society 
of  Friends  is  remarkable  for  verbosity,  while  the  members  of  the  society,  in 
their  oral  communications,  exhibit  great  simplicity  and  brevity  of  speech.  This 
fault  of  their  writers  necessarily  confines  their  publications  to  a  '  select  few,' 
by  whom  patience  is  esteemed  a  virtue.  Dr.  Wagstaff  has  judiciously  depart- 
ed from  the  established  rule,  and  given  us  valuable  historical  matter,  written 
in  a  readable  and  pleasant  style." — JV.  Y.  Post. 

"  This  is  a  most  vivid  and  valuable  history  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  com- 
piled from  its  standard  records,  and  other  authentic  sources,  by  William  K. 
WagstafT,  M.  D.  It  contains  an  Introduction,  entitled  the  Christian  Church 
prior  to  George  Fox." — Jfew  Haven  Courier. 

"The  author  has  attempted  to  consolidate  the  various  histories  of  Friends, 
and  present  them  in  simple  but  approved  language,  divested  of  quaintness  and 
circumlocution,  and  in  that  he  has  eminently  succeeded.  This  volume  will  be 
found  deeply  interesting,  not  only  to  the  members  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
but  to  all  readers." — U.  5.  Gazette. 


will  no  doubt  find  favor  with  the  public.    The  present 

with  the  year  1536,  and  extends  to  1736.  It  Is  the  design  of  the  author  to  pre- 
pare shortly  another  volume,  containing  a  full  account  of  the  privations  en- 
dured by  the  Society  in  America."— .Baltimore  American. 

"  The  work  of  Dr.  Wagstaff  contains  the  most  satisfactory  and  interesting 
exposition  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  of  the  doc- 
trines which  they  hold,  that  we  have  ever  read.  The  facts  detailed  in  the 
volume  before  us  are  derived  from  the  most  authentic  sources— the  standard 
historians  and  primitive  members  of  the  Society." — Jour,  of  Com. 

"This  work  has  already  attained  a  vast  amount  of  credit,  and  seems  to  be  -• 
rightly  valued  by  those  who  have  tested  fairly  its  merits  " — American  Re- 1 
publican. 

tt 


^  ----,..--.^-- ^ 

ROME  IN  1843-4. 

Rome ;  as  Men  by  a  New-Yorker  in  1843-4.    One  rol.  12mo.  \ 
with  map,  and  very  handsomely  printed.     Price  75  cents.    ] 

CONTENTS. — Saint  Peter's — the  Forum  and  Coliseum — the  Capi. 
tol — Churches,  images,  reliques,  and  miracles — A  day  among  the 
tombs  of  Rome — The  Vatican— Christmas  at  Rome — The  palace* 
of  Rome — Ancient  baths  and  modern  fountains — A  Roman  dining- 
house  and  cafe" — The  Velabrum,  Ghetto,  and  Trastevere — Car- 
dinals, monks,  beggars,  and  robbers — A  promenade  on  the  Pincian 
Hill — Sculptors  and  painters — The  modern  Romans — Appendix 
— How  to  see  Rome — The  Duomo  of  Milan. 

"  This  is  one  of  the  most  admirable  books  of  the  kind  we  have  ever  read. 
Its  most  marked  characteristic  is  perfect  taste,  and  this  is  conspicuous  in  every 
part  of  it,  preface  and  contents,  style  and  typography.  The  descriptions  of  the 
various  objects  of  interest  are  clear,  accurate,  and  in  the  highest  degree  pic- 
turesque and  pleasing.  The  book  must  commend  itself  to  every  cultivated 
mind ;  less,  perhaps,  by  any  strikingly  new  information  which  it  contains,  than 
by  the  chaste  and  refined  spirit  which  pervades  it." — JV.  Y.  Courier  and  En- 
quirer. 

"  The  present  work  is  so  unlike  any  of  its  predecessors  that  we  have  met 
with,  that  no  one  need  hesitate  to  purchase  it,  on  the  ground  of  its  being  a 
repetition  of  what  is  already  familiar.  Its  style  is  simple  and  graceful ;  its 
descriptions  exceedingly  graphic  and  striking ;  and  every  thing  is  brought  out 
with  such  life  and  freshness,  that  the  reader,  by  a  slight  effort  of  imagination, 
becomes  the  author's  companion,  during  his  sojourn  amidst  the  desolations  and 
glories  of  Rome.  It  is  altogether  a  delightful  book."— Albany  Jlrgu*. 

"This  elegantly-printed  volume  cannot  fail  to  be  read  by  thousands,  and 
read  with  delight  Our  authoi  has  vividly  and  succinctly  portrayed  whatever 
people  usually  go  to  Rome  to  see,  or  read  travels  thither  to  learn.  His  letters 
may  be  read  with  pleasure  by  the  thorough  scholar,  as  well  as  by  the  eager 
devourer  of  all  that  is  new." — JV.  Y.  TVi&une. 

"Whoever  wishes  to  obtain  a  close  and  familiar  view  of  Rome,  will  get  it 
nowhere  better  than  in  this  work.  Mr.  Gillespie  has  looked  upon  the  city 
with  the  eye  and  heart  of  a  scholar.  He  enjoys  Rome,  and  this  very  enjoy- 
ment of  his  communicates  itself  to  his  writings,  and  he  involuntarily  puts  his 
readers  in  a  state  of  feeling  to  enjoy  it  with  him." — Democratic  Review. 

"  We  know  so  well  the  mental  qualities  by  which  the  buJc  Is  guided— the 
elegance  of  taste,  purity,  and  good  judgment — that  we  are  scarce  prepared  to 
criticise  it  as  a  new  book.  Mr.  Gillespie  has  gone  to  work  like  a  tranquil 
scholar  and  lover  of  art,  and  has  toned  his  book  from  the  second  stage  of  his 
Impressions  rather  than  the  first.  His  views,  of  course,  are  more  reliable,  and, 
without  further  comment  on  the  quality  of  the  book,  which  is  in  all  respects 
admirable,  we  extract,"  &c. — JV*.  Y.  Evening  Mirror. 

"This  is  a  very  agreeable  book,  written  with  an  ease  and  fluency  that  make 
It  quite  delightful.  The  author  states  what  came  under  bis  observation  and 
his  impressions  with  an  earnest  freedom,  which  assures  the  reader  that  what 
he  Is  perusing  is  characterized  by  truth.  Every  subject,  apparently,  of  interest 
has  been  toached  upon,  hi  a  manner  sufficiently  full ;  and  yet  the  description  is 
marked  by  a  conciseness  which  gives  the  work  an  advantage  over  many  others 
of  a  similar  nature." — JV.  Y.  Albion. 

"  We  are  exceedingly  pleased  with  this  book,  because  the  author  is  above 
the  conventional  mode  of  thinking  and  describing.    He  thinks  for  himself,  and 
he  speaks  frankly ;  moreover,  he  is  a  close  observer,  and  is  evidently  possessed  < 
of  taste  and  discrimination." — JV.  Y.  Anglo-American. 

"  The  writer  describes  and  relates  with  a  vivacity  which  gives  his  subject,  * 
trite  though  it  be,  an  aspect  of  novelty." — JV.  Y.  Ettning  Put.  \ 

m 


LIFE  AND  ELOQUENCE  OF  LARNED. 

Life  and  Eloquence  of  the  Rev.  Sylvester  Lamed,  First  Pa«- 
tor  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  New  Orleans.     By 
R.  R.  Gi-^iey.     1  thick  vol.   12mo.,  with  a  fine  portrait,  j 
f  1  25. 

CONTENTS. — Preface,  Life  of  Lamed,  Prayer,  Sermons,  Christ  } 
as  Man,  Paul  before  Felix,  Saving  Faith,  Obligations  for  Spirit-  i 
ual  Mercies,  On  Objections  against  Christianity — the  same,  part  <! 
2 — Practical  Admonitions,  On  the  Inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  i 
On  Searching  the  Scriptures,  Religious  Education,  Duty  of  Re- 
conciliation to  God,  Causes  of  Distaste  for  Religion,  Sin  Incon- 
sistent with  Piety,  On  the  Advent,  Walking  in  Wisdom,  Enmity 
of  the  Carnal  Mind,  Duty  to  Orphans,  Excuses  of  the  Impenitent, 
I  Christian  Self-Examination,  The  Character  of  Herod,  Character 
of  Peter — the  same,  part  2 — Character  of  Paul,  On  the  Resurrec- 
tion, Against  Profane  Swearing,  Love  of  Darkness  rather  than 
Light,  Cause  of  Love  to  God,  Divine  Law  inexorable,  Report  of 
the  Watchman,  Hope  of  the  Righteous,  Moral  Insanity  of  Man. 

"No  minister  of  the  same  aee  bus  ever,  at  least  in  this  country,  left  behind 
(  him  deeper  impressions  of  his  eloquence.  ThU  volume  is  worthy  of  critical 
examination  and  study  ;  ntid  those  who  would  combine  in  their  sermons  ease 
and  elevation,  simplicity  and  energy;  who  would  leave  to  their  hearers  no  time 
to  sleep,  and  no  wish  to  be  absent,  but  regret  only  at  the  brevity  of  the  service, 
and  delight  at  the  return  of  the  Snbbuth,  will  find  the  perusal  and  re-perusal  of 
Mr.  Larned's  discourses  greatly  to  their  advantage." — Knickerbocker. 

"  A  beautiful  and  eloquent  tribute  to  sanctified  genius.  The  unity,  force,  ima- 
t  gination,  harmony,  and  feeling  apparent  in  these  discourses,  will  commend  the 
<  volume  to  all." — Christian  Observer. 

"  A  valuable  treasure  to  all  who  cherish  the  memory  of  one  of  the  most  pure- 
,'   minded  and  eloquent  clergymen  of  our  country ;  or  who  know  how  to  appre- 
ciate the  finest  specimens  of  pulpit  composition." — Tribune. 

"  He  was  one  of  the  most  eloquent  orators  in  the  United  States.  Mr.  Onney 
has  made  a  most  interesting  volume,  which  will  prove  an  acceptable  present  to 
the  religious  public." — Evening  Post. 

"  A  most  delightful  volume.  We  heartily  commend  it  to  the  religious  com- 
munity."— Jfev  York  American. 

"  It  is  much  to  be  wondered  at,  that  no  permanent  memorial  of  this  dlstin 
guished  divine  has  ever  before  been  given  to  the  world.  The  volume  cannot  fail 
to  be  sought  for  with  great  avidity." — Daily  American  Citizen. 

«  These  discourses  evidently  bear  the  impress  of  a  great  mind — not  only  of  an 
exuberant  fancy,  but  of  gigantic  powers  of  comprehension.  We  indeed  rejoice 
that  the  work  has  at  length  appeared. 

"learned  was  beyond  ati  question  the  brightwt  star  of  the  American  pulpit, 

during  the  brief  period  in  which  he  lived.    We  are  gratified  to  see  a  memoir 

of  dim  M>  worthily  constructed,  and  so  rich  in  Interesting  material.    The  sermon* 

>  are  pervaded  by  the  living,  breathing  spirit  of  true  genius,  as  well  as  of  evan- 

S  gelical  truth  and  fervent  devotion." — Albany  Jirg*t. 

X 


THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  INDIANS. 

Manners  and  Customs  of  the  North  American  Indians.  In 
Letters  and  Notes  written  during  eight  years  travel  among 
the  wildest  tribes  of  Indians  in  North  America,  with  400 
spirited  illustrations,  carefully  engraved  from  his  Original 
Paintings.  By  George  Catlin.  A  new  edition  in  2  vols. 
royal  8vo.  Price  $6  00,  bound  in  cloth. 

%*  Four  editions  of  this  very  interesting  werk  have  been  printed  in  London. 
Among  the  subscribers  were  the  Queen,  the  Queen  Dowager,  the  King  of  Bel- 
gium, and  many  of  the  most  distinguished  persons  in  Europe.  It  contains  clxtr- 
acteristic  and  faithful  records  of  a  race  of  people  who  are  rapidly  becoming  ex- 
tinct: and  it  is  not  probable  that  another  similar  work  can  ever  be  written. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  tribes,  the  Mandans,  are  already  entirely  destroyed. 
This  work  has  been  more  extensively,  copiously,  and  favorably  reviewed  in 
Europe,  than  any  other  published  during  the  last  five  years. 


BULL'S  HINTS  TO  MOTHERS. 

Hints  to  Mothers,  for  the  Management  of  Health  during  the 
period  of  pregnancy,  and  in  the  lying-in  room ;  with  an 
exposure  of  popular  errors  in  connection  with  those  subjects. 
By  Thomas  Bull,  M.  D.  1  neat  vol.  Fourth  Edition. 
Price  38  cents ;  or  in  cloth  binding,  50  cents. 

"We  recommend  it  to  our  readers;  and  they  will  confer  a  benefit  on  their 
new  married  patients  by  recommending  it  to  them." — Forbes'  Review. 

"  There  is  no  mother  that  will  not  be  heartily  thankful  that  this  book  ever 
fell  into  her  hands ;  and  no  husband  who  should  not  present  it  to  his  wife.  We 
cannot  urge  its  value  too  strongly  on  all  whom  it  concerns." — Med.  Times. 


FLORA  OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

Flora  of  North  America,  comprising  an  account  of  all  the  in- 
digenous and  naturalized  plants  growing  north  of  Mexico. 
By  John  Torrey  and  Asa  Gray.  Vol.  1,  (pp.  771,)  price 
$6  00.  Vol.  2,  parts  1,  2,  3.  $4  00. 

This  Is  the  only  authentic  and  complete  American  Flora.  The  object  of  the 
work  is  to  give  a  scientific  account  of  all  the  indigenous  and  naturalized  plant! 
of  North  America  at  present  known.  It  is  the  most  extensive  local  Flora  that 
has  ever  been  undertaken.  The  latest  Flora  of  this  country,  that  of  Pursh,  wa» 
published  twenty-eight  years  ago,  at  which  period  extensive  regions,  even  within 
the  United  States  proper,  had  never  been  visited  by  the  Botanist.  Since  that 
time,  the  number  of  known  plants  has  vastly  increased  ;  and  the  science  itself 
has  made  such  rapid  advancement,  that  this  work  will  present  the  Botuiy  of 
this  country  in  an  entirely  new  aspect. 


HAND-BOOK  OF  HYDROPATHY. 

Hand-Book  of  Hydropathy  ;  or  a  Popular  Account  of  the 
Treatment  and  Prevention  of  Diseases,  by  means  of  Wa- 
ter. Chiefly  selected  from  the  most  eminent  and  recent 
European  authors,  by  Joel  Shew,  M.  D.  1  vol.  12mo. 
Second  edition.  Price  50  cents  ;  or  in  paper  binding,  38  cts. 

"This  excellent  little  work  of  Dr.  Shew  has  been  compiled  from  the  best  au- 
thors, and  contains  as  complete  a  view  of  the  practice  under  the  mode  as  can  be 
given."— JV.  Y.  Post. 

"  It  is  eminently  calculated  to  benefit  all  who  read  and  study  it,  whether  sick 
or  well." — Regenerator. 

"This book  is  well  printed,  its  contents  have  been  judiciously  selected  from 
a  variety  of  sources,  and  it  gives  a  complete  compend  of  the  Treatment  by  Water 
in  its  present  state  of  improvement  It  is  universally  calculated  to  do  good  In 
the  all-important  matter  of  preventing,  as  well  as  curing  disease."— JV.  Y. 
Tribune. 


LOG KH ART'S  SPANISH  BALLADS. 

Ancient  Spanish  Ballads,  Historical  and  Romantic,  translated, 
with  notes,  by  J.  G.  Lockhart,  Esq.  To  which  are  added, 
an  Essay  on  the  Origin,  Antiquity,  Character,  and  Influ- 
ence of  the  Ancient  Ballads  of  Spain ;  and  an  Analytical 
Account,  with  Specimens,  of  the  Romance  ef  the  Cid.  1 
very  neat  vol.  8vo.,  beautifully  printed.  $1  50. 

"  These  '  Spanish  Ballads'  are  known  to  our  public,  but  generally  with  incon- 
ceivable advantage,  by  the  very  fine  and  animated  translations  of  Mr.  Lock- 
hart" — Haltam. 

"This  delightful  volume  needs  no  commendation  of  ours;  every  one  will  buy 
|  it,  and  keep  it  among  their  literary  treasures." — Edinburgh  Review. 

"  We  are  quite  at  a  loss  to  speak  in  adequate  terms  of  this  delightful  and  in- 
>  teresting  volume,  the  perusal  and  reperusul  of  which  have  afforded  us  so  much 
|  real  gratification, — but  we  advise  every  one  to  get  it" — JV.  Y.  Tribune. 


NEW  TABLES  OF  INTEREST. 

Tables  of  Interest,  determining,  by  means  of  the  Differences 
of  Logistic  Squares,  the  interest  of  every  whole  sum  up  to 
10,000  dollars,  for  any  length  of  time  not  exceeding  400 


TAPPAN'S  ELEMENTS  OF  LOQIC. 

Elements  of  Logic,  together  with  an  introductory  view  of 
Philosophy  in  general,  and  a  Preliminary  View  of  the 
Reason.  One  thick  vol.  12mo.  $1  00. 

CONTENTS  : — 

PART  1. — Introductory  View  of  Philosophy  in  General. 
"     2. — Preliminary  View  of  the  Reason. 
u     3. — Logic  Proper — Book  I.  Primordial  Logic.   II.  In- 
ductive Logic.      III.  Deductive  Logic.      IV. 
Doctrine  of  Evidence. 

"  This  la  an  able  and  learned— the  most  able  and  learned  work  which  baa 
ever  appeared  on  the  subject  in  this  country.  It  is  written  in  a  simple,  lucid 
style,  and  with  a  great  precision  of  definition  and  distinction.  We  doubt  not  it 
will  be  appreciated  by  learned  men  and  teachers,  and  become  the  standard  work 
in  its  line." — JVeio  York  Evangelist. 

"The  subject  is  presented,  on  the  whole,  in  a  far  more  original  and  attractive 
form  than  any  treatise  with  which  we  are  acquainted.  The  writer's  style  is 
characterized  by  a  peculiar  freshness  and  vivacity,  which,  together  with  hii 
admirable  arrangement,  relieves  the  subject  of  that  proverbial  tedium  under  the 
imputation  of  which  it  has  always  labored.  This  work  is  finely  adapted  as  a 
Manual  for  schools  and  colleges,  supplying  a  desideratum  which  has  long  been 
felt  to  exist.  The  book  we  decidedly  regard  as  an  honor  to  the  author,  and  an 
honor  to  the  country." — JVete  World. 

"  We  have  not  been  able  to  examine  this  excellent  treatise  with  the  attention 
it  merits ;  but  we  think  we  are  safe  in  saying  that  it  is  not  only  the  most  original, 
but  the  best  work  on  Logic,  which  has  ever  appeared  in  this  country." — Journal 
ef  Commerce. 

"  On  the  whole  we  think  this  is  the  best  work  on  Logic  which  we  have  *een 
from  the  American  press." — Evening  Post. 

BY   THE    SAME   AUTHOR. 

/ 

Tappan  on  The  Will.    3  vols.  $3  00 ;  or  separately. 
Vol.  1. — Review  of  Edwards. 
"    2. — Appeal  to  Consciousness. 
"     3. — Moral  Agency. 


BRADFORD'S  AMERICAN  ANTIQUITIES. 

< 
American  Antiquities,  and  Researches  into  the  Origin  and  I 

History  of  the  Red  Race.     By  Alexander  W.  Bradford.  \ 
1  vol.  8vo.    $1  00. 

%*  A  philosophical  and  elaborate  investigation  of  a  subject  which  has  excited  < 
much  attention.    This  able  work  is  a  very  desirable  companion  to  those  of  8te-  \ 
phens  and  others  on  the  Ruins  of  Central  America. 
«  ^^ ^^  —        il 


ACTONIAN  PRIZE  ESSAY. 

Chemistry,  as  exemplifying  the  Wisdom  and  Beneficence  of 
God.  By  George  Fownes,  Ph.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  Etc.  In  1 
Tol.  small  8vo.  Price  50  cents. 

CONTENTS. — The  Chemical  History  of  the  Earth  and  the  At- 
mosphere ;  The  Peculian'ies  which  characterize  Organic  Sub- 
stances  generally  ;  The  Composition  and  Sustenance  of  Plants  ; 
On  Animal  Chemistry ;  The  Relation  existing  between  Plant* 
and  Annuals ;  Appendix — (with  various  Tables.) 

>  ••  "The  object  of  the  work  is  to  gather  up  the  proofs  and  indications  of  design 

!'  and  goodness  in  the  structure  and  relations  of  things  disclosed  by  Chemistry — 
and  it  is  very  ably  done."— A*.  }'.  Post. 

"  It  ia  richly  worth  general  perusal." — JV.  Y.  Tribune. 

|  *  "The  manner  of  treating  the  subject  is  both  ingenious  and  recondite,  and  we 
;  commend  it  accordingly  to  general  attention." — JV.  Y.  America*. 

"  A  highly  interesting  and  valuable  work.  It  is  a  most  valuable  addendum  to 
j  other  works  on  this  subject ;  to  those  who  are  studying  Natural  Theology,  it 
{  will  be  highly  serviceable."— JV.  Y.  Expreit. 

"This  is  a  meritorious  work.    The  materials  are  fairly  and  skilfully  selected 
out  of  the  vast  and  ever-growing  mass  of  phenomena  and  truths  which  consti- 
tute the  modern  science  of  Chemistry;  and  are  put  together  willi  considerable 
dexterity,  imparting  an  air  of  novelty  and  freshness  even  to  the  truths  with 
;  which  we  have  been  long  familiar." — Christian  Remembrancer. 


HOLY  BIBLE,  WITH  COMMENTARY. 

Now  ready — Vols.  1  and  2,  $4  00  each ;  or,  numbers  1  to  28, 
of  the  Holy  Bible,  with  a  Critical  Commentary  and  Para- 
phrase, by  Patrick,  Lowth,  Arnald,  Whitby,  and  Lowman. 
A  new  edition,  with  the  text  printed  at  large.  To  be  com- 
pleted in  sixty  numbers,  at  25  cents  each,  the  whole  to  form 
four  imperial  octavo  volumes,  containing  upwards  of  4,300 
pages.  The  value  of  this  edition  consists  in  the  fact  that 
the  Text  accompanies  the  Commentaries — thus  adapting  it 
to  general  use. 

JCT  Students,  Clergymen,  and  others  clubbing  together,  and  remitting  the 
Publishers  the  amount  of  five  copies,  will  be  entitled  to  the  sixth  gratis ,  or 
s  twelve  copies  for  ten,  and  in  the  same  proportion  for  a  larger  number. 

%*  The  whole  cost  of  the  publication  is  not  required  in  advance,  as  the  work 
\  can  be  forwarded  in  cither  numbers  or  volumes,  as  the  party  may  desire. 
|( ^  ^,~*~*~.~~~~~>~~  .  ~* ~-,~^ ~  ) 


ONALUBHAHYMOUJY 


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